Freedom and Justice Party (Egypt)

The Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) (حزب الحرية والعدالة, Ḥizb Al-Ḥurriya Wal-’Adala) is an Islamist political party and the most popular party in Egypt. The president of the party, Mohamed Morsi, won the 2012 presidential election, and in the 2011 parliamentary election it won more seats than any other party. It is nominally independent, but has strong links to the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt, the largest and best-organized political group in Egypt.

The 2011–2012 Egyptian Parliamentary election resulted in the FJP winning 47.2 per cent of all seats in the country's lower house of parliament, with fellow Islamist parties al Nour and al Wasat winning 24.7 and 2 per cent, respectively. Both the FJP and the Salafist Al Nour Party have since denied alleged intentions of political unification.

The FJP originally stated that it would not field a candidate for the 2012 Egyptian presidential election, but ran Morsi after Khairat al-Shater was disqualified.

History
The Muslim Brotherhood announced on 21 February 2011, in the aftermath of the 2011 Egyptian revolution, that it intended to found the Freedom and Justice Party, to be led by Saad El-Katatny.

The party was officially founded on 30 April 2011, and it was announced that it would contest up to half the seats in the upcoming parliamentary election. It gained official status on 6 June 2011. The Muslim Brotherhood’s legislative body appointed Mohamed Morsy as president of the Freedom and Justice Party, Essam el-Erian as vice president, and Saad El-Katatny as secretary general. The three are former members of the Muslim Brotherhood "Guidance Office", or Maktab al-Irshad, the highest-level body of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood.

The party was expected to win "the vast majority" of the seats that it contested in the 2011 parliamentary election – i.e., just under half of the seats in parliament – as "no other party" had "anything close to the network of committed supporters" that it had. In addition, the MB worked with independent candidates promising them support.

By late 2012, the Freedom and Justice Party was no longer part of the Democratic Alliance coalition. And as of early 2013, Egypt is said to have become "increasingly divided between two camps": that of President Morsi and "Islamist allies", and opposing them "moderate Muslims, Christians and liberals".

Political platform
On launching the new party, the Muslim Brotherhood confirmed that it did not object to women or Copts serving in a ministerial post (cabinet), though it deems both "unsuitable" for the presidency. The group supports free-market capitalism, but without "manipulation or monopoly". The party’s political program would include tourism as a main source of national income.

The Freedom and Justice Party is based on Islamic law, "but will be acceptable to a wide segment of the population," said leading MB member Essam al Arian. The party’s membership is open to all Egyptians who accept the terms of its program. The spokesperson for the party said that "when we talk about the slogans of the revolution – freedom, social justice, equality – all of these are in the Sharia (Islamic law)." There is rivalry between the Freedom and Justice Party and the Salafis, who regard the Freedom and Justice Party as having 'watered down' its values.

In an interview with Al-Alam TV that aired on 22 August 2012, Ahmad Sabi', the Freedom and Justice Party's media advisor stated (as translated by MEMRI) that the 1979 Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel were "a mark of shame upon the Egyptian people" and was "undermining Egypt's sovereignty" and "projects for the development of the Sinai." Sabi' also stated that the Accord "is an unjust and unfair agreement, which has isolated Egypt from its Arab and Islamic environments, and from the pan-Arab effort to liberate the land of Palestine and to support Palestinian resistance."

In the same interview, Sabi' stated: In addition, carcinogenic pesticides were imported from the Zionist entity, and Egyptian agriculture was made available to the Zionist entity. This led to the destruction of various sectors in Egypt. Egypt now suffers from endemic diseases, such as various types of cancer, hepatitis and kidney infections. All these and other diseases are the result of the carcinogenic pesticides, which were brought here along with that agreement.

Leaders
List of leaders of the Freedom and Justice Party.

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