It took a party coup to bring the Wafd Party back in the limelight. But what, asks Amira Howeidy, does the "liberal" party have to offer It has been many years since the Wafd Party's elegant Doqqi headquarters has served as a backdrop to the newsworthy. Long gone are the heady days of the 1990s when its spacious courtyard was the venue for heated political rallies attended by heavy- weight politicians and attracting audiences from all walks of life. Following the death of Fouad Serageddin "Pasha" in 2000 and the election of his successor Noaman Gomaa the party has gradually faded from view. It attracted some attention last summer when Gomaa broke ranks with the opposition boycott and stood in the presidential elections. The results, though, were far from encouraging. Along with Egypt's other political parties the Wafd is now thoroughly disconnected from the street, something it, like the rest of the official opposition parties, blames on repressive emergency laws. As if to compound the party's woes on Wednesday, 18 January, Wafdists were provided with a rude reminder of their sorry state. Gomaa, whose giant presidential campaign posters had only months ago been plastered across Cairo's billboards and the nation's TV screens, was ousted in a sensational coup by the party's High Committee while the local media watched on in shock. Members of the committee cited Gomaa's dictatorial style, violation of High Committee decisions, and his accusations that Wafd members had received foreign funding in an attempt to destroy the party as the reasons for his ouster. He was replaced temporarily by the party's deputy chairman, Mahmoud Abaza, until the Wafd's general assembly elects a new president -- within 60 days as stipulated by the party's statutes -- on 2 March. Gomaa reacted by freezing the membership of Abaza, Mounir Fakhri Abdel-Nour and Mahmoud Sarhan, the wealthy businessmen and influential Wafdists behind the coup, and staged a 24-hour sit-in at the party's headquarters. In an attempt to legitimise their positions both sides informed the government-run Political Parties Committee -- which licenses political parties and arbitrates disputes -- of their decisions. But in a surprise move on Saturday morning the committee decided to refrain from interfering in the Wafd's dispute, arguing that it "is an internal matter" that should be resolved according to the party's statutes. Within hours the party's High Committee convened a press conference confirming that Gomaa had been sacked and that elections for a new president would be held on 2 March. Speaking to Al-Ahram Weekly following the press conference, the Wafd Secretary-General El-Sayed Badawi dismissed the possibility of any further disruptions in the run-up to the General Assembly's meeting in March. Gomaa responded by filing a complaint with the public prosecutor against Abaza and his supporters and vowed to go to court. Within two days the public prosecutor issued a surprise decision authorising Gomaa to access the party's headquarters by "force" and resume his role as chairman. Abaza immediately appealed the prosecutor's decision, though the court judged against him on the grounds that under the party's statutes only the General Assembly -- and not the High Committee -- can sack the chairman. Gomaa was not available for comment. "We're in the wait-and-see stage now," said Abdel-Nour, the prominent Coptic Wafd member, businessman and former MP who lost in the recent elections and was fired by Gomaa last December, only to have his sacking revoked by the party earlier this month. "For Gomaa to return by force is impossible," Abdel-Nour told the Weekly. "They will have to trample on the bodies of 300 Wafdists, and do so in front of TV cameras. Is the political establishment ready for that?" While conspiracy theories of government involvement in provoking the crisis -- as happened with the Labour Party in 2000 -- abound, they are dismissed as far fetched by most observers. Yet the fact that the Political Parties Committee, not known for its restraint, decided not to interfere in the crisis has raised eye brows. A source within the Wafd Party, who requested anonymity, provided one possible explanation. "The regime is being heavily criticised by the US administration for its performance during the elections," he told the Weekly. "It is not in a position to freeze the party's activities because it is supposed to be implementing democratic reforms." President Hosni Mubarak was heavily criticised in a Washington Post editorial on 17 January for failing to keep "promises to lead a transition to democracy". The editorial, which cited the imprisonment of the Ghad Party leader Ayman Nour and state intervention in the election results, urged the administration to put on hold negotiations over the free trade agreement Egypt is seeking with the US as punishment. The Washington Post 's concern over the results of the parliamentary elections in which the ruling National Democratic Party seized 73 per cent of parliamentary seats, the Muslim Brotherhood 20 per cent and the remaining political forces, including the Wafd, barely five per cent between them, pales in comparison with the shockwaves sent through Egypt's political classes. Coming on the heels of Gomaa's poor showing in the presidential elections, the party's failure to increase its parliamentary seats led to Gomaa's expulsion. "He was very stressed and accused party members of conspiring against him by forcing him to contest the presidential poll," said Badawi. "He felt deceived and took a series of decisions which were, in my view, very wrong." Gomaa fired Abdel-Nour for criticising him, and introduced fundamental structural changes to the party without consulting the elected High Committee. Gomaa's critics hold him responsible for the party's wavering opposition line and considerably weakening its mouthpiece by firing its editor Gamal Badawi and many staff members. "It's no secret that Gomaa has used the newspaper to serve his interests," charged Abdel-Nour. Now that he is out of the way, Abdel-Nour and other "reformers" are optimistic about the future of their party, though they concede that "difficult" times lie ahead. While reforms ensuring the party operates in a "democratic" manner that conforms with its "liberal values" can be expected, says Abdel-Nour, the Wafd's greatest challenge will be to "salvage the party's reputation, attract new members, modernise our discourse and attract young voters". Even more importantly, he said, "we must realign our position vis-à-vis other parties and forces." So does this mean the Wafd will reconsider its alliance with the Muslim Brotherhood within the multi-party United National Front for Change? Abdel-Nour will not go that far, though he predicts that "very soon" reformers will leave the NDP and join the Wafd. "I can assure you it's going to happen," he insists.
