Egypt's oldest political party Al-Wafd has announced the final expulsion of eight of its prominent members — two of whom are members at the country's newly elected House of the Representatives and Senate — over internal rifts. The decision was announced in a press conference held on Tuesday by the party's chairperson, Bahaa Eddin Abu Shoka, who accused the expelled members of participating in what he termed the "great conspiracy" against Al-Wafd in a bid to "take control of the party's organisations and to marginalise its chairperson."
He said the "plotters" were planning to hold a meeting for the party's High Committee on Saturday on a pretext of discussing the party's financial situation, but with an intention of preparing a vote of no confidence to unseat the party's Secretary-General and diminish the role of the party's chairperson.
The eight-member list included Yasser El-Hudhaibi, the party Vice-Chairman and the Senate member; and Mohamed Abdel-Alleem Dawoud, a Member of both the party's High Committee and the House of the Representatives.
The "mastermind" of the move was planned to take over the position of the party's Secretary-General after withdrawing the confidence from the incumbent secretary, said Abu Shoka, who is also a member of the Senate.
"The conspiracy is to empty the party of its leaders," MP Dawoud wrote on his Facebook page on Tuesday in response to the expulsion announcement.
Dawoud said the decision targeted all those who showed solidarity with him and refused what he described as "constitutional violations," in reference to the latest House's decision under which he was referred to the parliament's ethics committee for internal investigations.
The referral decision came on the back of the MP's comments that are believed to be against the parliament's majority during a House's session in January. The MP's attendance to the House's sessions has since been suspended.
In response to the referral decision, Dawoud had previously said the parliamentarians are not asked about his opinions expressed inside the House or its committees, denying directing any accusation against any particular party.
Tuesday's expulsion decision may affect the membership of the two House and Senate members because any change in the party status, under which the parliament members were elected, is one of the reasons that could lead to the dropping of the parliamentary membership.
According to the House and Senate laws, the membership could be dropped by a decision issued by a two-thirds majority of both bodies' members if the members' party's affiliation registered during the nomination phase - before voting - was changed.
