Egypt’s political parties are in danger in the wake of the recent parliamentary elections. The Wafd Party is deeply divided between those who won parliamentary seats and those who did not. Al-Sayed Al-Badawi’s place at the helm of the party remains strong, though, after he decided the party will boycott electoral run-offs. This decision allowed him to referee between the two major blocs within the party. Yet, these deep rifts prevent him from truly fulfilling his leadership position. A referee cannot, by any means, be a leader.

Meanwhile, Rifaat Al-Saeed’s leadership of Al-Tagammu Party is being aggressively challenged by a sizeable number of party members who demand new leadership. Al-Saeed is under fire because he decided to participate in the elections until the end. While the number of Tagammu representatives in the parliament tripled, some party members do not consider this a victory and are seeking a new leader.

The Nasserist Party is the weakest of the three because the election crisis coincided with internal disputes over party leadership succession. The party failed miserably at the polls, which weakened the influence of its interim leadership, and gave rise to demands for new permanent leadership so as to end the party’s unusual situation of not being able to choose a successor after its leader fell ill. The party's failure to put in place proper procedures for power and leadership rotations caused it to delve in odd experiments, such as delegation of leadership – as if it were the personal possession of the party president, who has the authority to choose whomever he pleases.

What is currently happening to these opposition parties is a clear sign of their leaderships’ failures, but it is also an indicator of a failure by the National Democratic Party (NDP). If this is what happened to our parties after the elections, there was undoubtedly a serious problem in the way these elections were managed. During the elections, the NDP focused on weakening the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) and strengthening legitimate opposition parties at its expense. The NDP succeeded in toppling the MB, but failed to shore up the opposition, which today seems to be in a worse situation than before the elections.

The fractures in the opposition have created a vacuum in the political arena, which presents the MB and other illegal opposition forces with an opportunity to expand. Yes, election results caught the MB off guard, but this age-old group is always capable of a comeback. The predicament of the MB is temporary, but is that also true of the opposition parties?