The Egyptian Bloc (, ') was an

electoral alliance An electoral alliance (also known as a bipartisan electoral agreement, electoral pact, electoral agreement, electoral coalition or electoral bloc) is an association of political parties or individuals that exists solely to stand in elections. E ...

in Egypt. It was formed in August 2011 by several liberal,

social democratic Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

, and

leftist Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social hierarchies. Left-wing politi ...

political parties and movements, as well as the traditional Islamist Sufi Liberation Party to prevent the

Muslim Brotherhood The Society of the Muslim Brothers ('' ''), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood ( ', is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar, Imam and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna in 1928. Al-Banna's teachings s ...

, and its affiliated Freedom and Justice Party from winning the parliamentary election in November of that year. As of September 2012, all former constituent parties left the bloc, joined other alliances or merged into other parties.

Establishment

The 15 groups shared the common vision of Egypt as a "civil democratic state", and feared that in case of an Islamist electoral victory the

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

could be changed to an Islamic one. The establishment of the coalition was publicly announced on 15 August 2011 in Cairo. The assembly's objective is to present a united list of candidates for the parliamentary election, to raise funds and to campaign together. The alliance supports Prime Minister

Essam Sharaf Essam Abdel-Aziz Sharaf (, ; born 1952) is an Egyptian academic who was the Prime Minister of Egypt from 3 March 2011 to 7 December 2011. He served as minister of transportation from 2004 to 2005. Early life and education Sharaf was born in Giz ...

's proposal of a "constitutional decree" that could prevent the Islamists from unilaterally amending the constitution or drafting a new one, even in case of winning a parliamentary majority. Analysts see the formation as a "final attempt" of the liberal and

secularist Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on naturalistic considerations, uninvolved with religion. It is most commonly thought of as the separation of religion from civil affairs and the state and may be broadened ...

camp to cope with the Muslim Brotherhood's advance in Egypt's post-

revolutionary A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates for, a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective to describe something producing a major and sudden impact on society. Definition The term—bot ...

political landscape, in respect of organisational structure, profile and publicity.

Platform

The programmatic ambitions of the alliance are to establish Egypt as a modern civil state in which science plays an important role, and to create equality and social justice in the country. The objectives of the Bloc also include to make a decent life possible for the poorer population, including education, health care and proper housing. It advocates a pluralistic, multi-party democracy and rejects religious, racial, and sexual discrimination.

Development

Several leading members of the long-standing national-liberal

New Wafd Party The New Wafd Party (), officially the Egyptian Wafd Party and also known as the Al-Wafd Party, is a nationalist liberal party in Egypt. It is the extension of one of the oldest and historically most active political parties in Egypt, Wafd Part ...

have also joined the alliance, even though the party had announced to contest the elections together with the Freedom and Justice Party. In late October 2011, the

Socialist Popular Alliance Party The Socialist People's Alliance Party ( ''Hizb Al-Tahalof Al-Shaeby Al-Ishtiraky'', SPAP) is a leftist party in Egypt formed shortly after the Egyptian Revolution of 2011. Its membership comprises many leftist organisations, mainly former member ...

broke away from the Egyptian Bloc, claiming that the bloc contained remnants of the old regime, and formed the Revolution Continues Alliance. The Egyptian Socialist Party followed this example. By early November, only the

Free Egyptians Party The Free Egyptians Party ( ) is an Egyptian liberal party, founded after the 2011 Egyptian revolution. It supports the principles of a liberal, democratic, and secular political order in Egypt. The Free Egyptians Party was the largest party i ...

, the

Egyptian Social Democratic Party The Egyptian Social Democratic Party (, ) is a social liberal and social democratic party in Egypt. It was founded after the 2011 Egyptian Revolution by the merger of two minor liberal parties, the Liberal Egyptian Party, and the Egyptian D ...

, and

Tagammu The National Progressive Unionist Rally Party (, commonly referred to as Tagammu, meaning "Rally" in English) is a socialist political party in Egypt. Originally known as the National Progressive Unionist Rally Organization, it was established ...

remained components of the alliance. After the elections of 2011/2012, the ESDP left the Bloc, complaining that the other partners were more concerned over the secular-Islamist divide than over the differences between the former regime and the forces of the revolution. In September 2012, the Tagammu Party joined the Revolutionary Democratic Coalition.

Results of the 2011 Parliamentary elections

In the 2011/2012 parliamentary elections, the Egyptian Bloc won 2,402,238 votes out of 27,065,135 correct votes, or roughly 8.9% of all votes. The Egyptian Bloc thus received 33 seats out of 332 in the Egyptian Parliament. The 33 seats were divided between members of the Bloc as follows: *

: 16 seats *

: 14 seats *

National Progressive Unionist Party The National Progressive Unionist Rally Party (, commonly referred to as Tagammu, meaning "Rally" in English) is a socialist political party in Egypt. Originally known as the National Progressive Unionist Rally Organization, it was established ...

: 3 seats In addition, one independent candidate belonging to the

won one of the 168 seats allocated for independent candidates. Thus, the Egyptian Bloc won a total of 34 seats out of 500 (6.8%) in the 2012 Egyptian Parliament, thus becoming the fourth largest political block in the parliament.

Shura Council elections

During the Shura council elections in January and February 2012, the bloc was divided considering the question whether or not to participate. The Free Egyptians Party decided to boycott the vote, citing the reluctance of authorities to address irregularities during the lower house elections. The ESDP and Tagammu, on the other hand, insisted on fielding candidates.

Member organisations

Former member organisations * Freedom Egypt Party * Egyptian Communist Party * Democratic Front Party * Awareness Party * Sufi Liberation Party *

(withdrawn in October) *

Socialist Party of Egypt The Egyptian Socialist Party () is a political party in Egypt which was founded by some Egyptian socialists after the 2011 Egyptian revolution. History and profile The party was founded on 18 June 2011 at a conference attended by over 400 Egyp ...

(withdrawn in October) *

(withdrawn after the 2011/2012 elections) *

* National Progressive Unionist Rally Party (Tagammu) Social and labour organisations *

National Association for Change National Association for Change ''()'' is a loose grouping of the various Egyptian of all political affiliations and religion, men and women, including representatives of civil society and young people aims to change Egypt. There was general a ...

* The National Council * the Farmers' Syndicate * the Popular Worker's Union

References

{{Egyptian political parties 2011 establishments in Egypt 2012 disestablishments in Egypt Defunct political party alliances in Egypt Liberal parties in Egypt Political opposition alliances in the Arab world Organisations of the Egyptian Crisis (2011–2014) Political parties disestablished in 2012 Political parties established in 2011 Secularism in Egypt