Al-Wasat Party

The al - Wasat Party (Arabic حزب الوسط الجديد, DMG Hizb al - Wasat al - Ǧadīd what party the new center means ) is a moderate Islamic political party in Egypt.

History

The party in 1996 by Abou Elela Mady was founded as a splinter group of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Madi accused because of their " limited political horizons ". The Brotherhood criticized the formation of the party and accused Madi, he was trying to divide the movement. Also by the Egyptian government, the party was not recognized and found to Madi before the military court on the basis of the accusation that he had created an Islamist party. From 1996 to 2009, the al - Wasat party has already four times trying to get an official license, but the request was rejected each time by the Political Parties Committee. Since 2007, that the amendment of Article 5 of the Egyptian Constitution, are parties that were founded on the basis of religion, prohibited.

Recognition

After the revolution in Egypt in 2011 al - Wasat got in the same year on 19 February, the official recognition by a court in Cairo issued. The al - Wasat party was to give the first party after the resignation of Hosni Mubarak's official status, which allows the party to contest in the next Egyptian elections in September. The same time, al - Wasat, the first legal party in Egypt with an Islamic background. Fewer but later gained also closely associated with the influential Muslim Brotherhood Islamist Freedom and Justice Party official recognition, which is considered the favorite for the upcoming elections.

Ideology

The aim of the party is a tolerant version of Islam with liberal tendencies. As a sign of this openness is next to Madi two Copts and three women among the 24 top members of the party. According to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace al- Wasat endeavor to agree on the principles of Islamic Sharia law with the values ​​of a liberal democratic system. But the party program accepts, for example, the right of a Christian who has been at the forefront of a Muslim-majority country.

Madi compares with its ideology of the Turkish AKP party.