Egypt's popular Muslim preacher Amr Khaled to form new party
Amr Khaled, the popular Egyptian Islamic preacher, is to form a new party targeting the youth and focusing on social development called Egypt's Future.
Explaining his move on Facebook Wednesday, Khaled said, "The results of the presidential election first round showed that the two presidential candidates backed by a strong party made it to the runoff, not because they necessarily had the best ideas."
The runoff in Egypt's presidential election will pit the Freedom and Justice Party's Mohamed Mursi against Ahmed Shafiq, who is allegedly backed by former members of the National Democratic Party.
The new party would be moderate, open to Muslims and Christians and be the first party to focus on social development rather than politics, Khaled said. In addition, it would have no specific political ideology.
“It is not about whether the state is religious or civilian, it is about social and economic development, such as bringing clean water to villages, recycling and unemployment," Khaled said, adding that achieving these goals would take time.
Amr Khaled already heads a social development organisation called Life Makers, with several branches in Egypt, Morocco and the UK.
Khaled's announcement comes after Abdel-Moneim Abul-Fotouh hinted that his presidential campaign, which has more than 90,000 members and volunteers, might be turned into a political party.
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