Cairo: A mostly youth movement, who spearheaded Egyptians’ protests that led to the overthrow of Islamist president Mohammad Mursi last year, is facing rifts due to disagreements among its leaders over whom the group should back in the country’s upcoming presidential elections.
The first crack in Tamarod or Rebellion appeared earlier this month when three of its senior leaders threw their weight behind a presidential bid launched by the prominent leftist politician Hamdeen Sabahi. Their backing has drawn sharp criticism from their colleagues, including Tamarod co-founder Mahmoud Badr.
Last week, Badr called for a general assembly meeting in which his followers announced support for Defence Minister Abdul Fattah Al Sissi’s likely bid for presidency.
Al Sissi has been riding a wave of popularity in Egypt since July when he led the ouster of Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood after massive street protests against his one-year rule. Many Egyptians view Al Sissi, 59, as able to end three years of street turmoil and economic decline that have hit the country since a 2011 popular uprising forced former president Hosni Mubarak out of power
“The general assembly meeting agreed to keep in its ranks the (Tamarod) members who back Sabahi’s nomination for presidency,” said Eman Al Mahdi, a member of the group’s politburo.
“Tamarod has derived its legitimacy from the Egyptian people. Those who deviate from its rules should be confronted,” Al Mahdi, a loyalist of Al Sissi, said without elaborating.
Another member inside Tamarod said that senior leaders in Tamarod had refused a suggestion made at the general assembly meeting that the pro-Sabahi members should be sacked.
“It was agreed to give them a new chance for either to follow the movement’s line or leave,” added the member on condition of anonymity.
“No one will be allowed to remain in the movement while following the agenda of another group or political party.”
Mustafa Malek, a Tamarod member and a Sabahi backer, called the general assembly meeting a “farce”.
“Ninety per cent of those who attended the meeting are not members of Tamarod’s executive offices and as such had no right to attend,” said Malek, who stayed away from the gathering.
Badr, who cofounded Tamarod in April last year, has denied that the group is hit by serious divisions. “I refuse any claims that there are rifts or dissidents in Tamarod,” he said in a recent TV interview. “Those who have opted to support Sabahi are part of Tamarod’s history.” He added that most members of the group will vote for Al Sissi’s presidential bid.
Sabahi, who came third in Egypt’s 2012 first democratic presidential poll, belongs to the Popular Current, a coalition of mainly leftist groups. Earlier this month, he was the first to officially announce that he will for presidency in this spring’s elections.
Al Sissi has yet to officially say he will run.
