CAIRO (AFP) - A new Egyptian political party created with the rare approval of the government held its inaugural meeting and promised to push for reforms and amendments to the constitution.
The Al-Ghad (Tomorrow) party received an authorisation from Egypt's political parties committee on Wednesday, only the third time the state body had granted a licence to a party in 27 years.
"Al-Ghad has a specific agenda for political and economic reform in Egypt. It has already drafted a new constitution based on the idea of a parliamentary republic," party leader Ayman al-Nur said in a statement, without elaborating.
The party said it was willing to open a dialogue with the country's existing political forces and hoped to make a strong showing in parliamentary elections scheduled for the end of 2005.
The green light given to the new party was trumpeted by its founders as a significant boost for democracy and pluralism in Egypt, but commentators said Al-Ghad was close to the regime and that its authorisation was only a cosmetic move aimed at pleasing Washington.
Al-Ghad reiterated Thursday its demand for the political parties committee to accept the applications of two more parties. One is the Nasserist Al-Karama and the other Al-Wasat, which has links with the banned but tolerated Muslim Brotherhood opposition movement.
The statement said the party would hold a congress on November 6 to elect a chairman and pick a 46-member higher committee.
Until then, the party will continue to be led by Nur, a 40-year-old journalist-turned-lawyer, who had held a seat in parliament as an indepdendent after the Al-Wafd party expelled him for dissent.
"The Ghad daily newspaper is expected to appear next January," the statement also said. In Egypt, every political party is entitled to a newspaper licence.
Nur claimed that Al-Ghad's creation came "in response to the calls for modernising ... political life" and promised to cater for the interests of women and youth.
The statement said 37 percent of the party's 2005 founding members were women and 22 percent from the country's Coptic Christian minority.
A statement from the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights Thursday welcomed the government's decision to grant the new party a licence.
But the rights watchdog demanded the abolition of the political parties committee, which was created in 1977.
10/28/2004 - 18:19 GMT - AFP