Margaret Azer, a former MP and a member of the bloc's Board of Trustees, announced that the Dialogue Bloc has already collected 38 signatures of support and will begin visiting Egyptian governorates next week to collect more. 

"We will go to Qalyubia and Alexandria next week and then other governorates in the following weeks until we collect the required 5,000 signatures," said Azer.

Article 7 of Egypt's 2011 political parties law states that a prospective political party must gather 5,000 signatures from citizens in at least 10 governorates, with at least 300 from each governorate, in order to become an official political party.

The Dialogue Bloc was formed last May, soon after President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi proposed the opening session of the National Dialogue.

Bassel Adel, a political activist and former MP, said the bloc can be a voice for all who believe in liberal democracy.

"We – the Dialogue Bloc – are a group which includes academics, political science professors, researchers and technocrats; we all believe in liberal politics, free competition, free speech, the rule of law and constitutional principles," said Adel, who is expected to be the party's first chairman.

According to its Tuesday statement, "the Dialogue Bloc believes in the legitimacy of the 25 January and 30 June revolutions, and we seek to be an officially recognized political party that can contribute positive and effective solutions to Egypt's problems."

The Dialogue Bloc's Board of Trustees includes 20 founding members led by Bassel Adel.

Among the members are Hani El-Nazer, former chairman of the National Research Center; Margaret Azer, a former MP; Suzan Harfy, a political writer, Sherine El-Shawarby, a former dean of Cairo University's Faculty of Economy and Political Science; Ghada Moussa, a Cairo University professor of political science; Mohamed El-Qarmany, an AUC professor of public policy; Dina Farouk, a TV hostess; Osama Mortada, a lawyer, and Ahmed El-Ghannam, a former deputy labour minister.