Egypt tycoon’s party makes case for free market economy

Fireworks erupt at his rallies, his face is plastered across the streets of his Cairo constituency and children wear T-shirts printed with his image.

Ahmad Mortada Mansour, the 34-year-old son of the head of Cairo’s Zamalek football club, has gone all out to win votes ahead of parliamentary elections that start in Egypt on Sunday.

Flush with money, Mansour and his pro-market, liberal Free Egyptians Party are mounting an ambitious bid to win support when the country votes for a new 596-member parliament, the first since the previous assembly was dissolved in June 2012.

The Free Egyptians Party, founded by telecoms tycoon Najeeb Sawiris — who has offered to buy an island off Greece or Italy to shelter people fleeing war-ravaged Syria — has 231 candidates across Egypt’s 27 provinces.

Many of the party’s candidates are former members of the National Democratic Party (NDP) of longtime ex-leader Hosni Mubarak, which was dissolved after the 2011 uprising that toppled him.