The other political parties

10The other political parties

• The National Party was not alone in the arena of struggle — though it was the loudest and the clearest in position. Other parties arose, some in the lap of the occupation and some in the lap of the Khedivial authority.
• 1907 is counted as the year of the birth of political parties in Egypt.
• They were:
  • The Party of Reform on Constitutional Principles (founded by Sheikh Ali Youssef): supported the Khedive;
  • The Liberal Party (Hizb al-Ahrar) (Muhammad Wahid Pasha): born in the lap of the occupation;
  • The Constitutional Party (Idris Raghib Pasha): supported both the nominal and the real authority;
  • The Party of Nobles (Hizb al-Nubala') (Hassan Hilmi Zada): voiced the return of supremacy to the Turkish–Circassian element;
  • The Egyptian Party (Louis Achnakh);
  • The Umma Party (Lutfi al-Sayyid): expressed the interests of the large landowners, and championed the slogan "Egypt for the Egyptians";
  • The Republican Party (Mohamed Ganem).