Nation's Future Party

The Nation's Future Party (Arabic: حزب مستقبل وطن‎), also known as the Future of the Nation Party or Mostaqbal Watan, is an Egyptian political party. It was founded in 2014 by members of the Egyptian Military Intelligence and Reconnaissance Administration[1] and has grown to become one of Egypt's largest political parties. As of March 2016, the party chairman was Ashraf Rashad.[1] The party has been described by some commentators as similar in nature to the National Democratic Party which ruled Egypt under Hosni Mubarak[4] due to the uncompromising support the party gives to President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who has been described by international media as authoritarian, as well as the connections some members of the party have to high-ranking officials in Sisi's government.

Future of the Nation Party

حزب مستقبل وطن
ChairmanAshraf Rashad
Secretary-GeneralHossam El-Khouly
FounderMohamed Badran
Ahmed Shaaban[1]
FoundedNovember 2014 (2014-11)
HeadquartersHeliopolis, Egypt[2]
IdeologyEgyptian nationalism
Populism
Secularism
Militarism
Political positionBig tent
National affiliationFor the Love of Egypt[3]
Colors  Blue
House of Representatives
316 / 596
Senate
158 / 300
Website
https://mostqbal-watan.org

History

Nation's Future Party was set up in mid-2014 by the Egyptian Military Intelligence. Former member of Abdel Fattah el-Sisi's presidential campaign Abdel Azim stated,

An aide to the president in the presidency told me literally, 'The Nation's Future Party was originally the Nation's Future Front, established by Military Intelligence as a youth entity to support the president. It's ours'.

— Abdel Azim, [1]

A student responsible for Nation's Future Party campaigning in his governorate was interviewed by Mada Masr. He stated that a Military Intelligence officer in civilian clothes frequently delivered cash payments of typically E£20,000 to the campaign office, and later on cheques, including one from the National Bank of Egypt for E£150,000. For each street march, E£15,000 to E£20,000 would be delivered, and young men organised by government agencies would be paid E£100 each to participate in the marches. Instead of being run by volunteers, the campaign office was staffed by civil servants. Campaigning for signatures for Sisi's presidential candidacy by Nation's Future Party included payments of E£50 to each person signing. Party leader Mohamed Badran took his instructions, according to the interviewee, from Major Ahmed Shaaban of Military Intelligence.[1]

The party attracted Egyptian youths who wanted to bring change to the political atmosphere from traditional policies of seniority according to age. In recent months, however, many established parliamentarians, many of whom were members of the now-dissolved National Democratic Party, joined the party.

The Nation's Future Party is officially the second-largest political party in the Egyptian parliament, having won 53 seats in the 2015 Egyptian parliamentary election.[5] It is, however, deemed to be the largest party in parliament due to the unofficial resignation of more than 50 members of parliament from their respective parties in favour of joining the Nation's Future Party.

2015 parliamentary election

The Future of the Nation Party ran in the 2015 parliamentary elections as part of the "For the Love of Egypt" electoral alliance, which won all 120 party seats in the parliament.[6] It was subsequently allocated 53 seats in parliament, making it the second-largest party after the Free Egyptians Party that won 65 seats, and ahead of the New Wafd Party, Egypt's oldest political party.

2018 presidential election

In 2018, after all political parties, except for the Ghad Party led by Moussa Mostafa Moussa, failed to field candidates for the presidential election in March that year, calls to merge Egypt's 104 political parties into four or five strong parties increased. In response, efforts to strengthen the presence of powerful parties in the Egyptian political scene, primarily led by the Free Egyptians Party, the Future of the Nation Party, and the New Wafd Party—as well as the Support Egypt Coalition, which holds 400 out of 597 seats in the Egyptian parliament—began.[7]

In April 2018, the Support Egypt Coalition announced it would seek to merge all of its constituent parties into one new party, which would then hold a parliamentary majority. This, however, presented two main obstacles:

  • Article 6 of the 2014 House of Representatives Law allows stripping membership of any member of parliament who changes the political affiliation by which they were elected, provided there is a 2/3 majority parliamentary vote in support of this.
  • Many political parties within the coalition rejected the idea of dissolving their own parties in favour of this new party, in particular, the Future of the Nation Party, which is the largest party in the coalition.

Growth

In April 2018, the "For the Love of Egypt" alliance, which was the largest and most organized civilian campaign set up to support President el-Sisi in his campaign for a second term in office,[8] announced plans to become a political party. This did not happen; in May 2018, the Future of the Nation Party and the "For the Love of Egypt" alliance made a surprise announcement in a joint press conference that the alliance would merge into the party and that the party's official name would be changed at the Annual Party Conference in October 2018 to the Future of Egypt Party.

Following the announcement, around 50 MPs resigned from their parties and joined the Future of the Nation Party; most of these came from the Free Egyptians and Wafd parties but there were many independents and other party members.[9] It was estimated that 75 parliamentarians joined the party but until the House of Representatives Law is changed to allow the switching of parties, none of the MPs have officially notified the Speaker of the House that they have changed parties for fear of being stripped of their parliamentary memberships.

Thus the Future of the Nation Party is currently unofficially Egypt's largest party in parliament.

Policies

The Egyptian Armed Forces

The party has always supported the Egyptian Armed Forces, believing Egyptians need to unite behind the Army and the Police Force in their fight against terrorism in defence of the nation.[10] It is firmly opposed to the deployment of Egyptian troops in Syria, asserting that the Egyptian Armed Forces should only protect Egypt and that it is not in Egypt's interest to get involved in the armed conflict in Syria.

Economic reforms

The Future of the Nation Party has always supported the President in regards to economic reforms. They supported the subsidy cuts on fuel, electricity and water, and are strong supporters of the New Investment Law and the liberalization of the Egyptian Pound.

Party leaders have often stated their support for the IMF-backed economic reform program, believing it is the only way to help Egypt recover from the effects of the 2011 Revolution and to create a modern, powerful Egyptian state despite the resulting hardships.[11]

Foreign affairs

The party's foreign affairs position tends to revolve around the concept that Egypt plays a pivotal role in the region and is a powerful state in an otherwise uncertain part of the world. As such, the party strongly supports diplomacy with as many nations as possible, especially in the fight against terrorism.

The party has often shown support for other Arab states, particularly those within the GCC. Considering Egypt's military strength and the warm relations enjoyed with Saudi Arabia and the UAE, the party has supported calls to protect the Gulf states from foreign interference, particularly from Iran. It also believes in the importance of the state's efforts to conclude the conflicts in Syria and Libya, and to reach a peaceful solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.

Reaching out to African states has also been a priority. The party has regularly lobbied the government to improve relations with the African continent, which were arguably non-existent for the latter part of the Mubarak era.[12] The party regularly sends diplomatic delegations to foreign countries in preparation for state visits by the President of Egypt.[13]

References
  1. Bahgat, Hossam (2016-03-14). "Anatomy of an election". Mada Masr. Archived from the original on 2019-09-24. Retrieved 2019-10-01.
  2. "The President's Men". The Atlantic Council. 9 September 2015. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
  3. ""فى حب مصر": اعتماد 4 منسقين لقوائم القطاعات الأربعة و10 أحزاب مشاركة". Youm7. 21 February 2015. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
  4. "Egypt's Senate elections marred by vote-buying and apathy". Middle East Eye. 12 August 2020. Retrieved 2020-08-15.
  5. Editorial, Reuters. "Egypt loyalists take the lead in parliament elections". U.S. Retrieved 2018-06-20.
  6. "The impossible parliamentary alliance". Mada Masr. Retrieved 2018-06-21.
  7. "Why parliament's majority 'Support Egypt' coalition aims to merge its parties - Egypt Today". www.egypttoday.com. Retrieved 2018-06-21.
  8. ""All With You For The Sake of Egypt' campaign holds a conference in Ismailia to support Sisi". Sada El Balad (in Arabic). Retrieved 2018-06-21.
  9. ""مستقبل وطن": 50 نائبًا من "المصريين الأحرار" انضموا للحزب". مصراوي.كوم (in Arabic). Retrieved 2018-06-21.
  10. "رئيس "مستقبل وطن": نقف خلف القيادة السياسية صفا واحد". 2018-02-09. Retrieved 2018-06-21.
  11. "رئيس مستقبل وطن: مصر تتوخى الرضا الشعبى فى إجراءاتها الاقتصادية وهذا صعب - اليوم السابع". اليوم السابع (in Arabic). 2018-02-01. Retrieved 2018-06-21.
  12. EraCore.NET. "حزب مستقبل وطن: على الحكومة توجيه اهتمامها إلى إفريقيا - الصفحة نيوز". alsafhanews.com (in Arabic). Retrieved 2018-06-21.
  13. "وفد "مستقبل وطن" يشارك الجالية المصرية بأمريكا استقبال السيسي". 2017-04-03. Retrieved 2018-06-21.
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