After the toppling of the Mubarak regime, the Islamist parties, which rejected violence, have begun to be legalized by the new interim military regime. The Wasat (Center) Party, which was formed by the soft-liners splitting off from the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) after a schism, had finally received the
official recognition from the Egyptian state after a nearly 15 year struggle to be legalized. Despite its moderation from the Muslim Brotherhood ideals, such as introducing the concept of "citizenship" which includes Christian Arabs (Coptics) alongside Muslim Arabs, and accepting both women and Coptics as presidential candidates in Egypt. The Wasat party aims to achieve political reform, pluralism, rule of law, and economic growth in the country. The first sign of being a moderate Islamist party (in comparison with the MB) is its decision not to mention "shari'ah" in its party program. Instead, it uses a loose term of "Arab-Islamic civilization," which gives it a more inclusionary and pluralistic character vis-a-vis the non-Muslims in Egyptian society. Due to this peaceful coexistence, the party argues, today Egypt has a distinguished position concerning its multicolor social life.
In addition to the Wasat Party, the Muslim Brotherhood also announced that it will establish a political party, under the name, "The Freedom and Justice Party." The MB declared that it opens up its doors to all of the Egyptian society. However, the MB differs from the Wasat party in that they refuse to accept the leadership of women and Coptics for the presidency. On this particular issue, the party seemed to be pretty rigid. Since the movement was not allowed to participate in the parliament as a legal political party (only as independent MPs), it did not really felt the need to engage in concessions in order to be viable in the political arena. Right now, the MB does
not seem to be willing to separate its da'wah (propaganda) section from its political body, unlike the Moroccan Justice and Development Party and Jordanian Islamic Action Front. However, in the following days, as the party completes its transformation from a "social movement" to a "political party," and as it indulges in the complexity of working on socio-economic programs, we will see whether or not it will decide to pursue an institutional differentiation.
