Muslim Brotherhood and Liberals Form Coalition

Politics makes strange bedfellows. Egypt’s most powerful Islamist movement announced its intention to form a coalition with one of the country’s oldest liberal parties, creating an unexpected alliance that could dominate the September parliamentary elections. The Muslim Brotherhood would run on a single candidate list with the Wafd Party, a liberal group formed just after World War I. The two parties have a long-standing rivalry, and the alliance troubled some secularists who believe it ensures a victory by the Brotherhood.