Habib said the move, though long overdue, was a step in the right direction to challenge the ruling NDP.

CAIRO, October 9, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – Egypt's main opposition parties and the Muslim Brotherhood have formed a unified coalition to run for the November parliamentary elections.

"The Wafd, Tagammu and Nasserists and the Muslim Brotherhood in addition to some eight other opposition groups have formed a National Front for Change," Tagammu Secretary General Rifaat Al-Said announced Saturday, October 8.

He said a common platform would be drafted by the nascent coalition which would not field candidates in its name to vie in the legislative elections.

"The Wafd, Tagammu and the Nasserists will in all likelihood field candidates as part of a coalition while the Brotherhood will field their own," Said added.

The fledging National Front for Change also includes the Kefaya movement, Center Party, Karama Party, the National Coalition for Reform, the National Gathering for Democratic Change, Labour party and the Popular Campaign for Change.

Leader of Al-Ghad (Tomorrow) party, Ayman Nour, who trailed second in the September 7 presidential elections, did not joint the front over opposition from the Wafd Party.

Former prime minister Dr. Aziz Sedki was named the front's secretary general and Noaman Gomaa, the Wafd Party leader, as its spokesman.

Mohamed Habib, deputy leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, said the move was long overdue but remains a step in the right direction to challenge President Hosni Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party.

"The step should have been taken long time ago to allow the opposition parties to draw joint plans of action for the November polls, however, it is still a step in the right direction that would yield benefits to all powers," he told IslamOnline.net.

Habib expected many of the front's candidates to win seats in the parliamentary elections.

He stressed that his group, which is officially banned and whose candidates run as independents, will coordinate with the front but field its own candidates.

"Coordination with the front will include withdrawing candidates from a number of constituencies in which other parties have more powerful candidates," Habib said.

The Brotherhood leader was earlier quoted as saying that an agreement was reached with the Karama (under construction) and frozen Labor parties to coordinate in around 30 constituencies in a number of governorates.

The Muslim Brotherhood is expected to field around 150 candidates in the legislative polls, says IOL's Correspondent.

The group is officially banned but, between periodic crackdowns, is often tolerated and has 16 deputies in the 454-member parliament.

Hundreds of its members have been detained during anti-government protests since May, but most have been released.

Hamid Mahmoud, deputy leader of the Arab Nasserist Party, said the nascent front will be a golden opportunity for the opposition parties to make a strong showing in the November polls.

"It is also meant to rejuvenate the Egyptian opposition after more than two decades of NDP attempts to weaken the opposition through the emergency law, election forgery and hegemony over all powers in the country," he told IOL.

"The front's members will support the strongest candidates in the constituencies, regardless of the candidate's political affiliation, to beat the NDP candidates."

Mubarak was declared on September 9, the winner of Egypt's first multi-candidate presidential race with 88.5 percent of the vote.

Many experts maintain the legitimacy of his new six-year term is undermined by the fact that he secured only one-fifth of the 32 million eligible voters, attesting to eroding public confidence in his rule.