Egypt Watch

‘We own the country just as the NDP did,’ says NFP secretary-general

The Secretary-General of the Nation’s Future Party (NFP) in the city of Rashid in the Buhaira Governorate, Ibrahim Ajlan, said that his party owns the country, just as the National Democratic Party (NDP), the ruling party during Mubarak’s era, did. “The NFP is the future of the country, and it is the authority’s party like the NDP was in the past,” he said, adding that “all agencies today serve the Nation’s Future Party.” “All services serve the secretary of the party, and there is no one who does not serve the secretary of the party, all of whom serve the party secretary and the party deputy. The party is the state,” he added. Aglan’s statement appeared in a video clip of one of the electoral public meetings of the party. The clip circulated on social media provoking wide criticism and comments.

The NDP is a political party that ruled Egypt for nearly four decades. It was founded by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1978 and was overthrown by the January 25, 2011 revolution, ending its hegemony over political life. The NFP’s list controlled the senate, which consists of 300 members, a third of them for the absolute list and a third chosen by the president, while the remaining third is for the individual seats that the security services impose strict control on, as no opposition votes are passed. The NFP, which is affiliated with the sovereign bodies, gained influence after most of its candidates won the individual seats in the senate elections, winning 89 seats out of 100 for the singles.

The elections did not witness significant competition, as they were held according to a law guaranteeing the supremacy of the party that the authority supports. The Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi also decided to appoint the party’s leader Abdel Wahab Abdel Razek as the senate speaker.