Former presidential candidate and founder of the National Popular Movement, Hamdeen Sabahi, announced on Friday his call for a national coalition to unify political support to one candidate in the next presidential elections, during the general conference of the movement and Al Karama Party.

“The next presidential elections in 2018 require that the democratic and popular powers collide,” Sabahi said, adding that “a national coalition must be formed of parties and public figures to come to an agreement on a presidential campaign and name one candidate.”

Sabahi’s speech came after the announcement of merging the two Nasserist parties, the Popular Current and Al Karama, into “Al Karama Movement” during their general conference, which he described as a “cornerstone of establishing a coalition to carry on with the revolution.”

He also criticised President Al-Sisi’s policies, adding that “the regime ruling us is the worse version of the same policies that we revolted against.”

The deputy head of the Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, Amr Hisham Rabie, commented on the merger, saying that it is important for the political scene in Egypt, considering that there are 112 political parties.

However, Rabie told Daily News Egypt that he does not believe that whoever the coalition nominated would win. “Whoever the military nominates will win, whether Al-Sisi or another one,” he added.

Sabahi was a presidential candidate in the 2012 and 2014 elections; however, he reportedly said in the conference that he would not run in the 2018 elections, but rather support whoever the coalition nominated.