New Wafd Party

New Wafd Party Hizb al-Wafd al-Jadid حزب الوفد الجديد
Chairman	el-Sayyid el-Badawi
Founded	February 8, 1983
Headquarters	Giza
Newspaper	Al-Wafd
Ideology	Liberal nationalism[1] Liberalism[2][3] Egyptian nationalism[4]
Political position	Centre-right
Religion	Secular[5]
Official colors	Green
Website
http://www.alwafd.org/
Politics of Egypt Political parties Elections

The New Wafd Party ("New Delegation Party"; Arabic: Hizb al-Wafd al-Jadid حزب الوفد الجديد) is a nationalist liberal^[1] party in Egypt.

It is the extension of one of the oldest and historically most active political parties in Egypt, Wafd Party, which was dismantled after the 1952 Revolution. The New Wafd was re-established in 1983. It follows almost the exact party line of the former aristocratic party during Egypt's Liberal Experiment in the 1920s.^{[citation needed]}

In Egypt's last legislative and presidential elections in November and December 2005, the party won 6 out of 454 seats in the People's Assembly,^[6] and its presidential candidate, Numan Gumaa, received 2.9 per cent of the total votes cast for president.^[7]

El-Sayyid el-Badawi is the party chairman after winning Al-Wafd's internal election in 28 May 2010 against Mahmoud Abaza, who was the party chairman after succeeding Numan Gumaa in 2006.

Following the 2011 Revolution the party joined the National Democratic Alliance for Egypt electoral bloc, which is dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (Egypt).^[8]

Goals

The party presses for introducing political, economic and social reforms, promoting democracy, ensuring basic freedoms and human rights and maintaining national unity.

The party also calls for abolishing the emergency law, solving the unemployment and housing problems, upgrading the health services and developing the education system.

The New Wafd has tried to place itself at the ideological 'centre' between the main historic traditions in Egypt of Arab socialism and private capitalism. It has been critical of the government's encouragement of foreign private investment and advocated a more balanced approach to the relationship between private and public sectors. ^[9]

Party platform

The party platform calls for the following:^[10]

Political reforms

• Democracy based on the multi-party system.
• Maintaining national unity.
• Protecting political freedoms and human rights.
• Independence of the judiciary.
• Abolishing the emergency laws.

Economic reforms

• Stabilizing economic legislation and rationalizing public consumption.
• Developing the public sector.
• Keeping a strong private sector.
• Developing the production sector.
• The opening of foreign banks in Egypt.
• Price stabilization.

Social reforms

• Modernizing agriculture.
• Upgrading health services.
• Raising the efficiency of laborers and introducing new laws to protect labor rights.

Foreign policy

• The party seeks a just and durable peace in the Middle East:
  • believes Israel has breached the Camp David Accords.
  • focuses on solving the Palestinian question.
• Advocates Arab unity.
• Seeks to highlight and deepen Arab and Islamic relations.
• Underlines the need for Egyptian-Sudanese integration.
• Seeks to develop Egyptian-African relations.
• Promotes neutrality and non-alignment.

1984

In 1984, Wafd formed an alliance with the Muslim Brotherhood ahead of parliamentary elections, but the results were disappointing^[8] as it won only 15% of the vote.^[11]

2006 turmoil

Early in December 2005, the party appeared in crisis following the parliamentary elections, when party chairman Numan Gumaa dismissed prominent party leader and vice chairman Monir Fakhri Abdel Nour following the poor performance the party showed during the elections.

Abdel Nour was also the leader of the opposition bloc in the outgoing parliament before losing his seat in the first stage of elections. Abdel Nour told the media before his dismissal, that the only way the party could improve would be by "changing its leadership". He also continued that there was much support within the party for such a change.

After a poor showing in the 2005 Egyptian Presidential elections, the Wafd Party split into to camps, with one group demanding that Numan Gumaa leave his post as chairman. That demand became even more pronounced after the party also did poorly in the parliamentary elections.

Later in December 2005, the party's higher political board reverted Gumaa's decisions on firing Abdel Nour as well as other members. The higher board also elections for its membership and amended its internal by-laws and rules, especially those that give the party's chairman vast authorities in an aim to trim the chairman's political powers, all of which Gumaa has agreed to support.

On January 18, 2006 the supreme committee for the party ousted its chairman Numan Gomaa from the party and from the presidency of the board of al-Wafd newspaper. The committee attributed its decision to Gomaa's tyrannical behaviour and abuse of authority.

It also appointed his deputy Mahmoud Abaza as an interim Chairman for a period of 60 days after which the General Assembly of the party would be invited for an emergency meeting to choose a new chairman.^[12]

However, Gomaa contended that this decision contradicted to the party's statute and that he was the legitimate chairman who can be dismissed only by a decision of the party's General Assembly. He responded by filing a complaint to Egypt's Prosecutor General who ruled that Gomaa should be allowed access to party's headquarters. Abaza filed an urgent lawsuit asking that the Prosecutor General’s ruling be overturned.^[13]

The party's newspaper, Al-Wafd, was suspended for thirteen days (from January 27 until February 8, 2006) after Gomaa asked Al Ahram publishing house to stop printing the paper and fired its editor and some journalists, complaining of their allegiance to Abaza's group.^[14]

On February 10, 2006, the party's General Assembly agreed to dismiss Gomaa from Wafd presidency and appointed Mustafa al-Taweel (a member of al-Wafd supreme committee) as an interim president till the next elections on July 2006. Gomaa argued the decision was due to an earlier ruling by Giza's court of first instance to stop the General Assembly meeting.

On April 1, Gumaa and his supporters occupied the party's headquarters to reclaim control and opened fire on supporters of the rival faction who responded by throwing stones. Twenty three people were injured and fire broke out in the building but was brought under control. Egyptian authorities arrested Gumaa and some of his supporters.^[15]

2010 Party Elections

In May 2010, the party's deputy chairman, Fouad Badrawi, the grandson of Wafd's late leader Fouad Serageddin announced that he was withdrawing his name from the nominations for party presidency to allow El-Sayyed El-Badawi, a member of the party's supreme authority and the party's former secretary-general, to run instead in the party elections scheduled by the end of the month.^[16]

In a rare occurrence in Egyptian partisan life, the elections were conducted in a transparent, peaceful manner and characterized by integrity. At its end, it was announced that El-Sayyed El-Badawi would be the new party chairman, with the outgoing president standing beside him. ^[17]

Since his election, El-Badawi has met with many prominent figures in Egyptian life, ranging from politicians, current members of parliament, Muslim and Coptic religious figures and even actors, actresses and football players.

To many observers, the Wafd merged as a much stronger party after this election, which would be counted that would once again attract liberals who were losing grip in the current political map to Islamists and other extremists.

Role after 2011 Revolution

After the 2011 Egyptian revolution forced President Hosni Mubarak to announce that he would step down in the coming elections, the government invited opposition parties to participate in dialogue. The party's secretary-general accepted on condition that protesters would not be attacked.^[18]

Representatives of the Al-Wafd Party joined anti-Mubarak protesters in Tahrir Square and vowed not to have a dialogue with government officials until President Mubarak relinquished his office.^{[citation needed]}

On 13 June 2011, the Wafd Party announced its alliance (the National Democratic Alliance for Egypt) with the Freedom and Justice Party, the political wing of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, to present a joint list of candidates for the 2011 parliamentary election.^[19] Executive members of Wafd have criticised the cooperation of the secular party with the Islamists.^[20][21]

Controversy

In in an interview with The Washington Times in July 2011, Wafd Party vice chairman Ahmed Ezz el-Arab dismissed the Holocaust as a "lie", and the Diary of Anne Frank as a "forgery". Moreover, he claimed that the September 11 attacks were in reality perpetrated by Mossad, the CIA and America's "military-industrial complex", and that Osama bin Laden was an "American agent".^[22][23]

Prominent party figures

• Numan Gumaa - Former Chairman and 2005 presidential candidate.
• Monir Fakhri Abdel Nour - Longtime serving Coptic Parliament member, politician and current Party Vice Chairman.

See also

• Liberalism in Egypt

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Brotherhood to run in Egypt polls, Al Jazeera English, 9 Oct 2010, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/10/201010911379428759.html, retrieved 28 June 2011 
2. ^ Tens of thousands demand change in Cairo's Tahrir Square, CNN World, 4 Feb 2011, http://articles.cnn.com/2011-02-04/world/egypt.protests_1_opposition-parties-ayman-nour-wafd-party?_s=PM:WORLD, retrieved 28 June 2011 
3. ^ Egypt parties' pact 'will create consensus', BBC News, 15 June 2011, http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9513000/9513318.stm, retrieved 28 June 2011 
4. ^ The major opposition, Africa Confidential, 4 Feb 2011, http://www.africa-confidential.com/article-preview/id/3833/No-Title, retrieved 28 June 2011 
5. ^ al-Atrush, Samer (1 Dec 2010), Islamists, secular party withdraw from Egypt poll run-off, AFP, http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i4IpwCILc_XmufF5doiB-DqaIc3g?docId%3DCNG.10af55f3e3cb08c769737268f0f3bdbc.6b1, retrieved 28 June 2011 
6. ^ Egypt Update - European Forum
7. ^ "Mubarak declared winner in Egypt poll". Al jazeera. 2005-09-09. http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/7B5682E2-3F44-4EDC-B94B-75B28D2D9FDA.htm. 
8. ^ ^{a b} Egypt's oldest liberal party faces controversy over alliance with Brotherhood, almasryalyoum.com, 07/09/2011
9. ^ http://www.bookrags.com/tandf/new-wafd-party-tf/
10. ^ http://www.sis.gov.eg/En/Politics/Parties/Parties/041102000000000002.htm The Wafd Party from Egypt State information service
11. ^ Egypt Inter-Parliamentary Union
12. ^ http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/060119/2006011901.html Egyptian al-Wafd party removes chairman Nuuman Jumaa.
13. ^ http://www.egypttoday.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=6348 Kicked out.
14. ^ http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2006/January/middleeast_January870.xml&section=middleeast&col= Egypt opposition newspaper stops publishing amid leadership row.
15. ^ http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=4365 Political Clashes in Egypt Injure 23
16. ^ http://news.egypt.com/en/2010050510634/news/-egypt-news/el-badawi-to-run-for-egypt-wafd-presidency.html
17. ^ http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/opinion/clean-election-process-lesson-wafd-party
18. ^ http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/02/03/egypt.protests/index.html?hpt=T1 CNN, 3 February 2011
19. ^ Fadel, Leila (13 June 2011), "Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood forms coalition with liberal party", Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/egypts-muslim-brotherhood-forms-coalition-with-liberal-party/2011/06/13/AGQI7OTH_story.html, retrieved 28 June 2011 
20. ^ el-Daragli, Adel (23 June 2011), "Senior Wafd Party members object to coalition with Muslim Brothers", Almasry Alyoum, http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/470950, retrieved 28 June 2011 
21. ^ Egypt in Transition. Jeremy M. Sharp. Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs. August 23, 2011
22. ^ Kessler, Oren (6 July 2011). "Anne Frank a ‘fake,’ says ‘liberal’ Egyptian leader". Jerusalem Post. http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=228194. Retrieved 8 July 2011. 
23. ^ Egypt party leader: Holocaust is ‘a lie’ by Ben Birnbaum, The Washington Times, July 5, 2011.

External links

• Website of the party's newspaper.