14 - 20 June 2001
Issue No.538
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 14 - 20 June 2001 Issue No.538 |
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Wafd in turmoil
Does the election of a new Supreme Authority for the Wafd Party mark the end of a transitional stage or the beginning of a new phase of conflict within party ranks? Omayma Abdel-Latif investigates
Elections for the Wafd Party's Supreme Authority, which took place last Friday, represented a victory for party chairman Noaman Goma'a whose candidates won all 40 contested seats. However, the outcome of these elections does not appear to have put Egypt's largest legal opposition party on a firmer course. The victory by Goma'a's supporters, according to Wafdist insiders, may be at the expense of the party's cohesion.
Noaman Goma'a
Badrawi
Since the death 10 months ago of the Wafd's founder, Fouad Serageddin, the party has faced one crisis after another. However, party officials were reluctant to even broach the topic of whether a rift exists. "I cannot confirm or deny whether there is a split in party ranks. However, the situation will become clearer in the coming weeks," Ibrahim Abaza, the Wafd's secretary-general, told Al-Ahram Weekly hours after the election results were announced.
Added to the victory of his candidates, Goma'a, as party chairman, has the right to appoint 20 members to the Supreme Authority, making his support in the 60-member body, absolute.
The Wafd's turmoil began with the polarising contest for the party's chairmanship between 67-year-old Goma'a and Fouad Badrawi, Serageddin's grandson. Then came the parliamentary elections in which the party performed poorly, winning only seven seats -- results which fell far short of Goma'a's pledge to capture 100 of the People's Assembly's 454 seats. Needless to say, Wafdists were disappointed, but observers of domestic politics also saw their predictions confounded, having suggested that the Wafd would fare better under a new leader with fresh ideas.
March of this year saw Goma'a move to tighten his grip on the party by ordering the expulsion of two leading members, Mohamed Farid Hassanein and Ayman Nour, on the grounds that they violated the party's statutes by "inciting rebellious acts" and failing to respect the party's hierarchy. Hassanein and Nour had held a rally without obtaining the chairman's approval. Nour has taken the issue of his expulsion to court.
Some party officials downplay the differences, arguing that there are "different trends" in all political parties, but this does not mean that a party is divided. "It is not easy when there is a change of leadership," said Khairi Abaza, a young member of the party's foreign affairs committee. He believes that the party is still in a transitional phase. A source close to Goma'a, responding to Badrawi's charge that the chairman is running the party in an authoritarian manner, said, "It is not unusual for a new party leader to take extreme measures to achieve a consensus. Some see his approach as dictatorial or undemocratic, but he needs to secure a consensus for his leadership and he has not achieved that yet."
Badrawi, 48, had resigned his seat on the Supreme Authority in protest against Goma'a's actions and did not run in Friday's elections. He is planning to contest the results before the Administrative Court on the grounds that the elections were not conducted in accordance with party rules.
Speaking to the Weekly, Badrawi vowed to "take a stand against Goma'a's dictatorship, monopoly over the decision-making processes and marginalisation of the party's institutions." He said that an anti-Goma'a opposition movement is gathering momentum within the party.
Badrawi's claim will be put to the test in the coming weeks when the Supreme Authority convenes. According to one source, the most important item on its agenda is the revision of the party's statutes, particularly those dealing with the chairman's powers and the duration of his term. The current statutes allow the chairman to stay in office for life, but a proposal which limits tenure to two consecutive terms lasting for a total of five years has been submitted. "There is a strong movement to curtail the powers of the chairman and modernise the party's structures," said party secretary-general Ibrahim Abaza.
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