Opposition in limbo after Mohammad Mursi ouster

Cairo: Less than one year after its creation, the National Salvation Front (NSF), Egypt’s main opposition to Islamists, is facing an uncertain future.

The NSF, an umbrella group of liberal and leftist parties, was set up in November in response to a controversial decree issued by the then Islamist president Mohammad Mursi expanding his power and making all his decrees beyond judicial review. Co-led by Nobel Laureate Mohammad Al Baradei and former presidential contender Hamdeen Sabahi, the coalition led many street protests against Mursi and his Muslim Brotherhood group, accusing them of autocracy. Following the army removing Mursi earlier this month after huge protests demanded his resignation, calls have been made for the NSF to be dissolved, allegedly for having lost its raison d’etre.

“To preserve the historic role played by the front, it is necessary to stop the activities of the National Salvation Front because the objective for which it was established has been fulfilled,” said the liberal Al Wafd, one of the alliance’s key parties.

After Mursi’s toppling, Al Baradei was named deputy to the caretaker President Adly Mansour. The new interim government also includes several NSF members. Al Wafd’s suggestion has stirred controversy inside the alliance.

“Resisting Mursi’s despotism was not our only objective,” said Ahmad Sha’aban, a leading NSF figure. “The front should remain to complete its revolutionary goals as the coming period has several challenges that requires the existence of the front,” he told Gulf News.

He added that the post-Mursi transitional period includes amending a contentious constitution drafted by Islamists, parliamentary elections and a presidential vote — a process Egypt’s interim rulers say will take nine months.

“It is dangerous for the political powers to be split up a few months before the holding of parliamentary and presidential elections. The front has also a role to play in mobilising the people against the violence practised by some Islamist factions.” More than a hundred people have been killed in clashes in Egypt since Mursi’s toppling on July 3.

The NSF is expected to hold an emergency meeting this week to decide on its fate. If the coalition’s leaders agree to keep it in place, they will have also to pick a new coordinator-general, a post held by Al Baradei until he was appointed as Egypt’s vice- president for international relations. Sabahi and Wahid Abdul Majid, a liberal politician, are hot favourites for the position, according to observers.

George Ishaq, a senior official in Al Baradei’s Constitution Party and an NSF member, expects the coalition to get a new lease of life.

“The front is set to be kept until the parliamentary and presidential elections are held. Afterwards, there will be no need for this political umbrella,” he told the state-run newspaper Al Ahram. “So, there should be more coordination among the political powers inside the front than before in order to ensure a strong presence in both elections,” he added.