Courting irrelevance

Leadership of the Wafd Party is once again the subject of a legal battle, reports Mona El-Nahhas

---

Abaza; Gomaa

The Administrative Court last week annulled the June 2006 decree issued by the Political Parties Committee recognising Mahmoud Abaza as Wafd Party leader. The ruling came in response to an appeal filed by Noaman Gomaa, former leader of the party who was ousted in January 2006 by Abaza.

Wafdist MP Ahmed Nasser, a close associate of Gomaa, told Al-Ahram Weekly that he would be heading to the party's headquarters accompanied by security men to enforce the ruling as soon as he received a copy of the executive judgement. His statement could not help but raise the spectre of events in April 2006 when Gomaa, accompanied by a handful of supporters including Nasser and almost 60 hired thugs armed with guns and knives, stormed the headquarters of the Wafd Party in a desperate attempt to have Gomaa reinstated. The ensuing battle lasted for nearly 10 hours and left 28 people injured. Gomaa subsequently received a jail sentence, yet on his release he once again embarked on a legal battle with Abaza.

People's Assembly Speaker Fathi Sorour turned down a request submitted by Nasser following the ruling demanding Abaza be removed as chairman of the Wafd. Sorour told Nasser that parliament would continue to abide by the decisions made by the party's general assembly, which elected Abaza as chairman in June 2006.

Abdel-Alim Dawoud, MP and former Wafdist, backed Nasser's request. "We do not want you, Abaza", he shouted during the parliamentary session.

Sorour's defence of Abaza is refuted by the former Wafdist Atef El-Banna, a professor of constitutional law. He argues that all official bodies, parliament included, must abide by the recent court ruling, stressing that any appeal filed against the first-degree ruling, either by the Political Parties Committee or Abaza, cannot legally delay its implementation.

In response, Abaza insisted the Administrative Court ruling does not affect his legal status as party leader. During a press conference on Sunday at the Wafd Party's headquarters he told reporters that the Administrative Court lacks the authority to quash party general assembly decrees, noting that under the constitution only the general assembly can settle internal party power struggles.

Abaza has summoned party members to a general assembly on 8 February to discuss the current situation. "Whoever believes the ruling means Gomaa will be returning as party chairman is sadly mistaken," Abaza told the press.

Abaza is contesting the ruling before Abdine Court, a move El-Banna says is redundant since it has no authority to hear appeals filed against Administrative Court rulings. "Appeals like this can only be filed before the Higher Administrative Court," he says.

That the ruling coincides with a revival in the fortunes of the Wafd Party following almost two years of power struggles is no coincidence, say many commentators. Political analyst Amr Hashem Rabie told the Weekly that he would not exclude the hand of the regime as being behind the renewal of infighting. "It is the state's strategy to stir up trouble within opposition parties to prevent any change in Egypt's stagnant political life."

Following the ruling a group of Wafdists, earlier dismissed by Abaza for their support of Gomaa, called for the two camps to reconcile, suggesting that Gomaa act as the party's honorary chairman while Abaza keeps his post as the Wafd leader.

Rabie dismisses the possibility of any reconciliation between Abaza and Gomaa: "The struggle between the two has become so embittered that any mediation is destined to failure."