Professor of Political Science Amr Hamzawy, in a conference of five political parties on Sunday, said secular political parties would form a coalition next week in order to face the religious parties during upcoming parliamentary elections.
“The calls for a religious state by Islamic groups during last Friday’s demonstration encouraged the liberal parties to take this step,” he said. “Voters will have to choose between a religious and a secular state.”
Hamzawy called for supra-constitutional principles so as to prevent the Islamists from forming a religious state should they win the elections. “The nature of the state should not be determined by any particular group,” he said.
Democratic Front Party President Osama al-Ghazaly Harb said liberalism does not contradict any of the Abrahamic religions. “Those who are against liberalism and freedom of thought will pull us into a dark cave,” he said. “Only a secular state can regulate the relationship between religion and governance.”
Translated from the Arabic Edition
