With internecine struggles threatening to destroy it from within, the liberal Democratic Front Party is further away than ever from meeting the hopes invested in it, writes Mona El-Nahhas Members of the Higher Committee of the liberal Democratic Front Party will meet next Saturday to discuss a recommendation passed on 14 February by the party's executive bureau calling for the dismissal of deputy chairman Anwar Esmat El-Sadat. The recommendation was passed in response to a complaint filed by the party's first deputy chairman, Osama El-Ghazali Harb, against El-Sadat, who is the nephew of the late president Anwar El-Sadat. In the complaint, Harb accused El-Sadat of insulting him personally at a meeting of the party's executive bureau held on 28 January. Harb said that the recommendation to dismiss El-Sadat served the wider interests of the party, noting that the final decision is in the hands of the Higher Committee. The executive bureau's recommendation was passed ahead of the party's internal elections, which are due to be held on 29 February. In response, a spokesman for El-Sadat said that the developments were aimed at tarnishing his image, particularly since El-Sadat intends to run for the post of party secretary-general. "Fearing that El-Sadat, who enjoys wide popularity in party ranks, will easily take the post of secretary-general, Harb had decided to get rid of him," Mahmoud Saleh, who is also competing for the chairmanship with Harb, told Al-Ahram Weekly. Saleh said that Harb planned to make sure the post went to his associate Mohamed Mansour Hassan. For his part, El-Sadat threatened to appeal to the courts if the party's Higher Committee quashes his appeal contesting the legality of actions to dismiss him. El-Sadat has accused Harb of attempting to destroy the party, describing him as "someone with no political sense". The Harb-Sadat clash comes in the wake of resignations by dozens of party members in the Alexandria and Gharbeya governorates. Protesting against what he said was the deteriorating situation of the party, environmental expert Mustafa Kamal Tolba has resigned from his post as a member of the party's Senate Council. Rami Kamel, party deputy secretary-general, has also submitted his resignation. "I decided that the time had come to stop working for a party that was divided into two conflicting camps," he said. However, the most important resignation has been that of chairman Yehia El-Gamal, submitted earlier this month, though as a result of this new crisis El-Gamal is remaining in his post until the election of a new chairman on 29 February. Pressured by members who have called on him to settle the latest crisis threatening the party's unity, El-Gamal asked for the meeting of the Higher Committee to be held on Saturday. It is thought that El-Gamal will attempt to convince members of the executive bureau to withdraw their recommendation during the meeting. "I hope the two conflicting sides will put aside their differences and listen to the voice of reason," El-Gamal told the Weekly. Since becoming chairman last June during the party's first general assembly, El-Gamal has been keen to stress that he wants to remain in the post for just one year in order to give members of the younger generations a chance to develop the party. Although his resignation was therefore not a surprise, it raised question about why he did not wait to resign until the party's February general assembly. El-Gamal's resignation also comes a few months after that of Ali El-Salmi, one of the party's founding members. El-Salmi, a professor of administration and former minister of state for administrative development, cited the absence of any organised party structure or agenda as the reasons for his resignation. Commenting on the most recent clash, El-Salmi accused Harb of being the reason behind the party's current situation. Harb has also been criticised by members for running the party "as if it were his own property". Many of the party's senior posts have been distributed among Harb's relatives, critics say, with Harb's brother, Yehia El-Ghazali, who is in charge of membership, being cited as a particular problem. Political analysts have also not been satisfied with Harb's way of running the party, which in their view has led to its weak performance. "It's not a party. It's just a club for chatting, and it has failed to make any kind of connection with the public," analyst Amr Elshobki commented. However, the party, now the subject of harsh criticism, was hailed as a force for change by analysts when it was set up last May. "It could bring a breath of fresh air to Egypt's stagnant political arena," columnist Salama Ahmed Salama wrote after the party was given a licence by the country's upper house, the Shura Council. Yet, Salama's optimism has proved short-lived, for since then the party has come under fire for allegedly doing little apart from issuing statements and entering into what appear to be endless internal struggles.
