Tamarod’s arrogance might lead to its division
The request by Egypt’s Tamarod movement to form a political party was rejected due to missing information that the movement did not provide, thinking its position in the political scene before June 30 was enough to get its demands met.
On Dec. 3, Egypt's Political Parties Affairs Committee rejected the application submitted by the Tamarod movement to form its party. The committee requested the movement to reformulate its bylaws and financial regulations in accordance with Article 5 of the political parties law, and to send the file to the first chamber of the Supreme Administrative Court. This decision raised questions about the movement’s efficiency and presence, and most importantly, whether the harmony between Tamarod and the current regime has ended or not.
Since the emergence of the Tamarod movement on the Egyptian political scene on April 23, 2013, it drew a lot of attention and remained in the spotlight even after June 30. Talks were still ongoing about its future and fate, especially after it accomplished what the people perceived as its main, initial task that was to topple Mohammed Morsi’s regime. Thus, Tamarod was similar to other youth movements, which were formed based on a specific mission whose accomplishment led to the division or the disappearance of those movements.
To avoid ending up like the youth movements in the post-revolution period, Tamarod sought to establish a political party to bolster its work and presence in the political arena, and to prepare for the third phase of the road map — as the movement participated in drafting the constitution on July 3, 2013, and will participate in the parliamentary elections, though it has yet to determine its candidates. Surprisingly, Tamarod thought it still enjoys the popularity it gained when it gathered 22 million signatures to withdraw Morsi’s confidence and submitted incomplete documents to the Political Parties Affairs Committee, thinking that the committee would immediately agree on turning it into a political party. Yet, it was shocked that it does not have any special status compared to the rest of the movements and forces seeking to be a political party.
Tamarod leader Maha Abu Bakr defended the committee's request for amendments. She told Al-Monitor, “The movement knows the requirements that must be met for the establishment of any political party, but it felt no need to have a party president, which is one of the items that the committee objected to.” She added, “Our president is historic President Gamal Abdel Nasser.”
