The Revolution Continues Alliance (RCA) includes liberals, Islamists, and socialists and, perhaps most notably, many youths who were formerly members of the Muslim Brotherhood. Many of the parties were originally members of the Egyptian Bloc.
The alliance’s members include the Socialist Popular Alliance Party (SPA), the Egyptian Socialist Party, the Egyptian Current Party, the Egyptian Freedom Party, Equality and Development Party, the Revolution’s Youth Coalition, and the Egyptian Alliance Party. The SPA is the only party with the proper authorization to contest seats in the election, so almost all RCA candidates will be listed under its name.
The RCA’s platform is focused on social justice, closing the income gap, ending corruption, and reestablishing law and order. It also plans to pass a national budget with unemployment benefits and more state spending on health care, education, and public housing.
Of the 280 candidates the Alliance is fielding in the election, 100 are younger than 40 and the majority of them are SPA members, according to Egypt Elections Watch. Two electoral lists will have women listed in the top spot – one from the Egyptian Socialist Party and one from the Equality and Development Party.
Some parties threatened to defect, saying that SPA was marginalizing the youth groups, but negotiations resulted in an acceptable distribution of seats for all parties.
The alliance planned to boycott the parliamentary elections in response to SCAF’s violent crackdown on protests, but reneged on that vow ahead of the election, Ahram Online reports.
