BREAKING NEWS

Egypt's Wafd party may quit pact with Islamists

CAIRO - Egypt's liberal Wafd party said on Sunday it may quit an electoral deal with the Muslim Brotherhood, highlighting growing tensions between liberals and Islamists over their vision for Muslim-majority Egypt.
The pact's aim was to allay fears that Islamists would seek to dominate debate about a new constitution, due to be re-written after parliament is elected. Some liberals fear Islamists want the constitution to create an Islamic state.
Growing public criticism of Islamists may also have prompted Wafd to reconsider whether it should stay in the pact that some in the Wafd party saw as an electoral asset but which might now be proving a liability, analysts say.
The Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice party, seen as the best prepared for the parliamentary election expected in November, announced a pact with Wafd and 16 other mainly liberal leaning groups in June.