Liberal Constitutional Party (Egypt)
Liberal Constitutional Party حزب الاحرار الدستوريين | |
|---|---|
| Secretary-General | Muhammad Ali Alluba |
| Historical leader | Adli Yakan Pasha (1922–1924) Abdel Aziz Fahmy (1924–1926) Muhammad Mahmoud Pasha (1926–1941) Abdel Aziz Fahmy (1941–1942) Mohammed Hussein Heikal (1943–1952) |
| Founded | 30 October 1922 |
| Dissolved | 17 January 1953 |
| Split from | Wafd Party |
| Headquarters | Cairo |
| Newspaper | Al Siyasa |
| Ideology | Constitutional monarchy Liberal democracy Social liberalism |
| Political position | Centre-left |
| Colours | Violet |
The Liberal Constitutional Party (Arabic: حزب الاحرار الدستوريين, Ḥizb al-aḥrār al-dustūriyyīn) was an Egyptian political party founded in 1922 by a group of politicians who left the Wafd Party.
History
The Liberal Constitutional Party was founded on 30 October 1922 during a meeting chaired by Adli Yakan Pasha, and some time later the party launched a newspaper, Al Siyasa (Politics). Several Wafd-origin liberals like Muhammad Mahmoud Pasha, Muhammad Husayn Haykal joined the party. Although the Wafd Party was nationalist and conservative views, the new party supported the constitution which was approved on 19 April 1923, the secularization of the State, the United Kingdom and also the total unification of Egypt and Sudan. Muhammad Alluba, a supporter of the Palestine cause, served as the general secretary of the party in the 1930s. It was banned, like the other political parties in Egypt, after the coup d'état of 1952.
Leaders
- 1922-1924 – Adli Yakan Pasha
- 1924-1926 – Abdel Aziz Fahmy[1]
- 1926-1941 – Muhammad Mahmoud Pasha[2]
- 1941-1942 – Abdel Aziz Fahmy
- 1943-1952 – Mohammed Hussein Heikal[a]
Electoral history
House of Representatives elections
| Election | Party leader | Seats | +/– | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1923–1924 | Adly Yakan Pasha | 20 / 211
|
20 | 2nd |
| 1925 | 40 / 211
|
20 | 2nd | |
| 1926 | 29 / 211
|
11 | 2nd | |
| 1929 | Muhammad Mahmoud Pasha | 5 / 232
|
24 | 2nd |
| 1931 | 0 / 150
|
5 | Boycotted | |
| 1936 | 15 / 232
|
15 | 2nd | |
| 1938 | 77 / 264
|
62 | 2nd | |
| 1942 | Abdel Aziz Fahmy | 4 / 264
|
73 | 2nd |
| 1945 | Mohammed Hussein Heikal | 75 / 264
|
71 | 2nd |
| 1950 | 28 / 319
|
47 | 3rd |
Notes
References
- ^ al-Sayyid-Marsot, Afaf Lutfi (1977). Egypt’s Liberal Experiment: 1922-1936. University of California Press. p. 66.
In 1924, he resigned and the party leaders induced Abd al-Aziz Fahmi, who was not even a party member, to take over the position, which he did with reluctance, for he was a hypochondriac and at the time believed himself to be ill.
- ^ al-Sayyid-Marsot 1977, p. 112"In time he became one of the pillars of the Liberal Constitutionalist party, and when Abd al-Aziz Fahmi resigned as leader of that party in 1926 Muhammad Mahmud became vice-president and acting leader. After Nahhas was dismissed from office in 1928, he was chosen to lead a new cabinet and became president of the party."
- ^ Smith, Charles D. (1983). Islam and the Search for Social Order in Modern Egypt : A Biography of Muhammad Husayn Haykal. State University of New York Press. pp. 161–162.
Further reading
- Bikhazi, Ramzi Jibran (1968). The Liberal Constitutional Party of Egypt, 1922-1936 (Thesis). American University of Beirut .
- El-Shalak, Ahmed Zakaria (1982). حزب الأحرار الدستوريين [Constitutional Liberal Party: 1922 -1953] (in Arabic). Dar Shorouq.