The Wafd leadership debacle highlights the hypocrisy of parties who call for democracy but command their own ranks by diktat, writes Ibrahim Nafie The Wafd Party has been sucked into the same vortex that swallowed other opposition parties in the past. Following a power struggle, a wing of the party decided to oust the leader, and the latter resisted. Litigation is underway, and the party is likely to be frozen by court orders until the case is resolved. Since Noaman Gomaa replaced the late Fouad Serageddin as party leader, divisions have torn the Wafd. The poor showing in Egypt's presidential elections triggered the recent crisis, where Gomaa came third, following the incumbent president and the Ghad candidate Ayman Nour (formerly a Wafd member). Party members criticised the performance of Gomaa and his allegedly dictatorial style, pointing out that the Ghad -- a party formed only a few months earlier -- shouldn't have beaten Egypt's oldest political party. Worse still, in the parliamentary elections, the Wafd took six seats, around 1.5 per cent of the People's Assembly total. The recent parliamentary elections exposed the fragility of all our opposition parties. The National Democratic Party, some say, is powerful because of state backing. But that at best is only a part of the story. Our opposition parties' offices and newspapers are generally outspoken, but have no public support to mention. Of all these parties, only the Wafd, Tagammu, and the Nasserist parties seemed to have a decent following. At least this is what one thought, until the last parliamentary elections. The disappointing performance of our opposition parties should have been a wake-up call for party leaders. They should have got busy introducing change. Instead they simply blamed the government for their own failure. That was not the responsible thing to do, if you ask me. It was an attempt to avoid responsibility. Allow me to be blunt. Parties that fail to run their own affairs in a democratic manner have no business asking for democratisation nationwide. One would have expected opposition parties to be shocked by their poor performance in the elections. One would have expected these parties to change their ways. One would have expected the leaders of these parties to infuse new life in their parties. Aside from the NDP, not one party has won the five per cent parliamentary quota allowing it to field candidates in the next presidential elections. And yet, no one seemed to care. In the Wafd, calls to remove Gomaa gathered pace, and he responded with arbitrary measures, ones that he later reversed. It was only a matter of time before things came to a head. Last Wednesday, the Wafd's Higher Council removed Gomaa from office and appointed deputy leader, Mahmoud Abaza, as interim leader. Gomaa reacted by expelling Abaza and other Wafd leaders from the party. For some painful hours, rival factions barricaded themselves in party offices as police surrounded the building in a precautionary measure. Now Gomaa maintains that what happened was an illegitimate coup. Abaza says that the majority had its say. The Wafd debacle speaks volumes to the crisis of Egyptian opposition parties. These parties have nearly no presence in the Egyptian street and need reform. It doesn't make sense for parties to clamour for reform but fail to lead the way. Reforming Egyptian parties is the first step to reform in the country.
