Egypt groups hold first meeting

The protests in Cairo’s Tahrir Square spawned new groups of activists

In Egypt more than 2,000 representatives of the groups that took part in the uprising against former President Hosni Mubarak are to hold a national council.

The meeting aims to plan their strategy for the election for September.

It is the first organised meeting of the groups since Mr Mubarak left office in February.

From late January, huge numbers of people took part in mass protests that eventually overthrew Mr Mubarak.

But since he stepped down Egypt has been run by a secretive military council and the numerous activist groups formed in the crucible of Cairo’s Tahrir Square have had little say over the country’s transformation.

By holding this first National Council of Democratic Forces the leading activists hope to agree on ways to keep the momentum of the revolution going.

Their big fear, they say, is that the Muslim Brotherhood will dominate the election planned for September because no alternative secular party has yet been organised to replace the discredited party of Mr Mubarak, which has been banned.

During the meeting they will discuss running a unified slate of parliamentary candidates in the election, and deeper reforms to the constitution.

Previous attempts to unite different secular groups have made little progress.

The activists lack experience, and some say they prefer to remain outside party politics.

How such a large number can iron out their many disputes in a one-day conference is not clear, but with less than five months until the election, time is very short to create an entirely new political force.

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