The Strong Egypt Party Bridging the Gap between the Islamists and Secular Camps?

The political opening of 2011-2013 in Egypt has shown that the Islamist/secular divide remains the main cleavage structuring the political life and party system. The polarization between both camps grew stronger since 2011, eventually leading to the collapse of the attempted regime change, and a return to authoritarian practices. In this context, it is of uttermost importance to examine closely what happened then at the junction of both camps, in this space of wasati (centrist) Islamism, which several political parties tried to embody. How did they try to maintain a balance between both camps? Why did they ultimately fail to do so? And why some of them did support until the end the Muslim Brotherhood’s (MB) regime when others were more critical and open to the secular opposition? The presidential campaign of Abdel Mun‘im Abul-Futuh – and the creation of the Strong Egypt Party in its immediate aftermaths – constitutes a critical moment in a series of events, from January 25, 2011 to June 30, 2013. In this paper, we will analyze this attempt at bridging the Islamist/secular divide through three phenomena: the pluralization of the Islamist political offer in Egypt following the 2011 revolution; Abul-Futuh’s campaign as an attempt to build an Islamist coalition competing with the MB; the Strong Egypt Party trajectory, from its foundation as a legacy of Abul-Futuh’s campaign to its current state of paralysis, under accusations of terrorism and threat of further repression. In the first part of our paper, we underline how the real novelty within Egyptian Islamist politics after 2011 was not the legal recognition of the MB as a political actor (through the creation of the Freedom and Justice party, FJP), but rather the birth of a competition within the Islamist camp, with the creation of several Salafi (Nour, Fadila, Building and Development) and wasati (Wasat, Nahda, Ryada, Tayyar) political parties. In the second part, we will show how Abul-Futuh’s presidential campaign was based on a broad Islamist (and non-Islamist) coalition, bringing together most of the Salafi and wasati parties in a common attempt to compete against the MB candidate, Muhammad Morsi. We will also show how the political career of Abul-Futuh has made him suitable for this role as a rallying figure. In the last part, we will examine the legacy of Abul Futuh’s campaign: The Strong Egypt Party. We will examine how it was founded in 2012, its recruitment, leadership, political program, and positioning within the political field at the time. Last, we will see how this party evolved during its existence, from its attempt to mediate between the Islamists and their opposition under Morsi, to its critical support to the 2013 transition, then its growing opposition to the authoritarian turn in 2014. Strong Egypt’s current situation since the arrest of Abul-Futuh in the beginning of 2018 will be highlighted as one of the factors that affect the continuity of a post-Islamist and/ or wasati current among Islamists in Egypt.