A number of Leftists groups will officially launch the Revolutionary Democratic Coalition at a press conference on Wednesday.

"The coalition aims to create a Leftist bloc able to actively contribute to the country's future and defend the poor and marginalised," Ahmed Bahaaeddin Shaaban, secretary general of the Egyptian Socialist Party, said.

Shaaban expressed optimism about the future of the coalition, describing it as "the first time in Egypt's history that the majority of Leftist forces have united with one vision."

The members of the coalition are: the Egyptian Socialist Party, the Socialist Popular Alliance, the Tagammu Party, the Workers and Peasants Party, the Egyptian Communist Party, the Egyptian Coalition to Fight Corruption, the Socialist Revolutionary Movement (January), the Socialist Youth Union and the Mina Daniel Movement.

Shaaban stressed the coalition would be a long-term strategic coalition and not simply an electoral coalition.

A number of initiatives have formed in recent weeks to counter Islamist domination of political life in Egypt. On Monday, former Arab League secretary-general Amr Moussa announced the launch of the Egyptian Conference Party, which united at least 25 groups made up of liberals, leftists and remnants of the Mubarak regime.

Furthermore, reform campaigner Mohamed ElBaradei'sConstitution Partywas legally recognised this week.

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