The liberal Wafd coalition is planning to meet on Sunday to agree on its parliamentary candidates, said senior member Amr El-Shobaky.

In a statement to Al-Ahram Arabic news website, the former MP explained that the coalition would first work on finalising its list of candidates before considering coordination with any other political group.

Led by the liberal Wafd party, the coalition is expected to include several other parties, including the Egyptian Social Democratic Party. El-Shobaky drafted the first document upon which the coalition was established.

In a public statement in early September, Wafd announced that it would not join with the Egyptian Front, the other main electoral alliance so far formed, on the grounds that it represents a gathering of remnants of the NDP who opposed the 2011 revolution that led to Mubarak’s ouster.

Egyptian Front member and former MP Mostafa Bakri, however, told Ahram Online in October that contacts between the Wafd and the Front over an electoral alliance had not been completely severed.

Asked about a possible alliance between the two coalitions, El-Shobaky confirmed that the Wafd coalition would not be considering forming any alliances before finalising its list of candidates.  

Parliamentary elections are expected to be held by March according to a statement made by President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi.