The Arab Democratic Nasserist Party is in danger of being torn apart as two rival factions fight for control of the party. Deputy Chairman Sameh Ashour and Secretary General Ahmed Hassan are locked in a battle that has turned violent.

After last year's parliamentary elections, in which the party did not gain a single seat, Ashour announced that ailing party leader Diaa Eddin Daoud had delegated to him his responsibilities. Hassan responded to this news by saying he would take legal action against Ashour, accusing him of forging Daoud's signature.

With tensions between the two simmering, Ashour and Hassan sat down to air their grievances. The meeting yielded an agreement by both men to set up a high committee that will supervise the party’s internal elections. They also set the date of the party's general conference for 23 July, according to Ashour.

The meeting was organised after violent clashes had erupted between the two camps after each accused the other of intimidation at the offices of the party's mouthpiece newspaper, Al-Arabi. Ashour had called in the police.

“It is a pity that political parties in Egypt reach this point,” Gamal Fahmy, a prominent political writer and journalist with Nasserist leanings, told Ahram Online.

For Fahmy, the blame lies with the system that regulates the activities of political parties is the main problem.

“Egyptian political parties are designed in a way which gives neither a room for internal activism nor for political interactions,” said Fahmy.