Mossad Qassem, the Strong Egypt Party's Beheira farmers' secretary, announced on Sunday he would resign, along with 16 other party figures, in protest against its leader's perceived "bias towards the Muslim Brotherhood."
Party chief Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh has been accused of "loving" the Islamist organization, a group he was once member of himself.
"Sixteen members and I have submitted our resignations because we agreed from the outset that our goal should be to work for the good of Egypt and to take decisions together," Qassem announced on Sunday.
"However, Aboul Fotouh had a different opinion, for he loves his group–[the Brotherhood]– more than anything, while we love Egypt more than anyone," the secretary claimed.
In August, 25 members of the party in Monufiya resigned in protest – also against what they described as bias towards the Brotherhood by Aboul Fotouh and other leading party figures.
The party’s secretariat in Beni Suef also resigned in August for the same reason.
Aboul Fotouh, a former Brotherhood leader, left the group soon after the 25 January revolution and ran in 2012 presidential elections which brought President Mohamed Morsy to power.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
