Political figures who belonged to the now-dissolved National Democratic Party are set to convene late Monday to discuss plans for competing in the next parliamentary elections.
Haydar Baghdady, a prominent NDP figure, told Turkish news agency Anadolu that the People’s Representatives Alliance — a coalition of 217 former NDP members — would hold its meeting at a Cairo hotel.
He said 130 former party leaders will compete in the elections, which are expected late this year or early next year after the constitution is approved.
That number could increase, he added.
Baghdady said the meeting would tackle the alliance’s stance on the constitution draft recently introduced by the Constituent Assembly, and whether the alliance would protest the draft.
The meeting will also handle the names of the alliance’s candidates, the possibility of forming electoral alliances with other parties, and the launching a website for the new entity, he said.
Baghdady denied that the alliance intended to revive the NDP.
“We adhere to the revolution’s goals and refuse to return the party that caused the people to revolt,” he stressed, adding that current alliance members, despite being former NDP figures, had not been close to the regime or faced corruption charges.
Only 11 former NDP members were elected in the People’s Assembly elections in early January, before the assembly was dissolved in June based on a court ruling.
The announcement of the alliance comes amid soaring fury over the exoneration of several former NDP officials Wednesday on charges of orchestrating a bloody assault on protesters during the revolution last year that came to be known as the “Battle of the Camel.”
In September last year, the Supreme Administrative Court ruled that NDP members could run in future elections.
