Five Egyptian political parties have jointly called for the establishment of a pro-civil-state political force to stand against "repression" by the military and Islamist groups.
In a statement released Sunday, the parties said attempts by the ruling military council to rehabilitate the regime of ousted president Hosni Mubarak is "state despotism."
They also condemned what they said were plans by Islamists, including the Muslim Brotherhood, to establish a religious dictatorship through the control of state institutions and by excluding other political factions from power.
The statement was signed by the Free Egyptians Party, the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, the Egypt Freedom Party - three parties established after the 2011 uprising - as well as the older Democratic Front Party and Nasserist Karama Party.
The parties criticised last week's decision by the justice ministry to grant military police the power to arrest civilians, as well as the High Constitutional Court's decision to dissolve parliament.
The parties said the decisions were politically motivated and their timing suspicious because they had provoked a political crisis just days before the presidential election runoff.
The statement's signatories said efforts should be focused on building a national consensus based on respecting judicial verdicts and election results, whilst upholding the right of peaceful protest at all times.
Hosni Mubarak was toppled from power by a popular uprising in early 2011. He was recently convicted of failing to stop the killing of protesters during the uprising that toppled him.
