CAIRO--A leading Coptic secularist has quit Al Wafd, Egypt's oldest liberal party, in protest at the chief of the party's visit to the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, a banned-but-influential opposition power.
"The Muslim group adopts principles opposite to those of Al Wafd," said Kamal Zakher in a statement. El-Sayyed el-Badawi, the leader of Al Wafd, has recently visited the headquarters and described the visit as a courtsey call.
The Brotherhood has been officially banned in Egypt since 1954. Its members ran in elections as independent.
Zakher denied that he plans to set up a political party of his own.
