We don’t consider the “Wafd Party Reform Current” influential simply because “our party is in no need for reform,” said Wafd Party’s board member, Tarek Sebaq.
“Last week, we witnessed a huge turnout for the party’s internal voting over Chairman Al Sayyed Al-Badawi’s bylaw amendments, this is enough to show the recognition of our members to the board,” Sebaq was quoted by Youm7 Saturday.
Wafd party experienced internal conflicts between Badawi and some veteran members who established the “Wafd Party Reform Current.”
Earlier this month, members of the reform current have called on a vote of no-confidence for Badawi over what they claimed he tried to get rid of them by reducing the number of board members through changing the bylaws.
In an attempt to resolve the issue, President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi met with the conflicting parties who agreed upon Sisi’s suggestion to appoint some of them within the board; a suggestion based on the chairman’s eligibility to appoint ten members in the party’s board of members.
Last week, 1335 Wafd party members voted in favor of the bylaw amendments issued by Badawi to change the official name of Egypt’s liberal party from “The New Wafd” to its original name “The Egyptian Wafd.”
The bylaw also included electing new fifty board members and other five for the party’s secretary post.
“Fouad Badrawi and other members, who were present during the Sisi’s meeting, have rejected the appointment decision which they previously agreed upon. They are losing an opportunity but the party definitely can persist without them” Sebaq said.
In a conference held by the reform current Friday, Badrawi said that “Badawi is not saying the whole truth over our internal crisis to the public opinion.”
The party faced a similar confrontation in 2008 when its then chairman Noaman Gomaa closed the party’s daily paper after some members used its premises to hold a sit-in pressuring him to step down.
The Wafd Party is Egypt’s oldest liberal party. Established in 1919, it was the leading party before the 1952 Revolution, which abolished the Egyptian monarchy.
