The legal battle over the leadership of the liberal Ghad Party reached a climax with the election of Ayman Nour as its chairman, Mona El-Nahhas reports In defiance of legal barriers banning him from practising his political rights, Ayman Nour, founder of the liberal Ghad Party, was elected on Friday as the new party chairman. Nour managed to garner 273 votes, while only 34 votes went to his rival Yasser Abdel-Hamid, the party's deputy chairman. Although separated from Nour in 2009, Gamila Ismail was keen to attend the general assembly in her capacity as a member of the party's higher council. Ismail voted for Nour saying he was the best to lead the party in the coming stage. Following the announcement of the election results, Nour said the Ghad Party was back and capable of offering an alternative to the regime. He added his party will be in the vanguard of political powers calling for reform and change. Last Friday's general assembly was held in the wake of a final ruling issued in June by the Supreme Administrative Court, by means of which Ihab El-Kholi, the then party chairman was no longer recognised as the chairmanship seat holder. Moussa Mustafa Moussa, who has for years been battling for the party leadership, first with Nour, then with El-Kholi, viewed the ruling as settling the long legal dispute about the party leadership in his favour. Since 2005, the year when Nour finished second to President Hosni Mubarak in the first multi-candidate presidential polls, the party has been divided into two wings, one led by Nour, the other by Moussa. Vowing to take the necessary legal measures against Nour and his group if they use the name of the Ghad Party in their meetings or in any political activity, following last week's general assembly Moussa hurried to file an official complaint against them. According to Samir Abdel-Azim, Moussa's lawyer, the complaint is now with the Qasr Al-Nil prosecution. In the complaint, Abdel-Azim accused Nour, together with three top party leaders from Nour's group including Wael Nawwara, Ghad's secretary-general, of impersonating a political party and holding a meeting in violation of the law. Abdel-Azim also accused the head of the advertisement department at the independent Al-Dustour newspaper of publishing false news. An advertisement heralding the date for holding Nour's general assembly was published in Al-Dustour before party elections. "The prosecution summoned Nour and his group but they did not attend," Abdel-Azim said. Nour and his men see their legal stand as 100 per cent correct. "Measures of holding the general assembly conform with the conditions stipulated by the party's internal statutes," said lawyer Abdel-Rehim Amr from Nour's side. On June's court ruling, Amr insists that, "it's true that the ruling did not recognise El-Kholi as the party chairman. Neither did it recognise Moussa ." As Nour's lawyer argued following the issue of the ruling, the seat of the party chairman has become vacant, something which necessitated the election of a new chairman through fresh party polls. "And this is what happened during last Friday's general assembly, during which Nour was chosen as the Ghad chairman via fair elections," Amr said. However, not everyone from Nour's group welcomed Nour's election as the new party chairman. A few hours before the general assembly, dozens of members from the Ghad branch in Alexandria submitted their resignations to protest against Nour's running in the party polls despite his criminal record. A lawsuit was filed before the Administrative Court by Hisham Farag, a Ghad member from Alexandria, who called for banning Nour from running in the party elections. Nour said he will be more than happy to accept such resignations as he expects to get a large number of new members in return. Nour's insistence to lead the Ghad Party will cause the party to lose both legitimacy and the opportunity to run in the presidential polls due to be staged in 2011, those who resigned believed. In December 2005, Nour was sentenced to a five-year jail term on charges of forging membership proxies necessary for registering his party. Nour insisted that the charge was fabricated with the aim of undermining his political career. In February 2009 Nour was released on health grounds, but that did not mean that he was cleared of the forgery charge. According to Article 25 of the penal code, an individual with a criminal record is not allowed to practice any of his political rights until six years after his release. However, since the date of his release, Nour has argued that he has the necessary legal cards which will enable him to overcome obstacles hindering him from practising his political rights, including the right to run in polls. He was reluctant to elaborate further, saying he did not want further surprises. "If anyone has legal proof to contest Nour's right to run in polls, why doesn't he submit it right now? And we are ready with our own strong evidence in reply," Amr said.
