Nearly 10 years ago, Abul-Ela Madi was jailed when he first proposed creating an Islamist party in Egypt, and now he seems closer than ever to achieving his dream. If he does, it will further alter his country's already changing political landscape. If Madi's al-Wasat party is approved, it will launch a new experiment in incorporating Egypt's powerful — but long banned — Islamic fundamentalist forces into politics at a time when the government of this key U.S. ally in the Muslim world is promising greater democracy.After a few months in jail when Madi sought to establish his party in 1996 and two subsequent rejections by the committee in charge of licensing new political parties, a State Council court panel in June recommended approval for al-Wasat. An appeals court is to rule on Oct. 1, but the court has never reversed such a recommendation. "I never lost hope," Madi said with a smile as he sat in his downtown office. "Anyone with a cause has to have a huge reservoir of hope and optimism to change a black reality."
While the approval would come too late for al-Wasat to field a candidate in the Sept. 7 presidential election, it could participate in parliamentary elections set for November. The road to gain legal status for al-Wasat has been rough. Madi was opposed both by the government of President Hosni Mubarak and his former colleagues in the Muslim Brotherhood, believed to be the country's most powerful opposition force.