The Wafd Party's Supreme Authority decided yesterday not to enter into dialogue with ElBaradei, former head of the IAEA and potential presidential contender, unless he first approaches the party. In a related development, the Tagammu Party's political committee will meet today to determine the party's stance on ElBaradei. The meeting will also look at ways to coordinate action with the National Association for Change established by ElBaradei before he recently traveled outside Egypt. The decision to hold the meeting came after the party's secretariats in Cairo, Giza and other governorates distributed statements announcing to party members their support for ElBaradei. Sayyed Abdel Aal, Tagammu's secretary general, told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the statements represented the personal viewpoint of "some members", and added that discussions between party members and leaders concerning ElBaradei should reach a final conclusion in today's meeting. Meanwhile, the National Campaign to Support ElBaradei announced that it will soon prove wrong all those who have attempted to cast aspersions on the patriotism of ElBaradei. It added that those making false allegations are driven by a desire to please state officials and seize more parliamentary seats in the upcoming legislative elections. The 6th April Youth Movement decided yesterday to work with legal experts to examine the obstacles faced by both their own movement and the National Association for Change in gathering signatures from different governorates, especially given that neither movement is licensed or authorized to do so. The movement fears that lawyers for the National Democratic Party might challenge the constitutionality of the proxies they intend to collect. The Ayez Haqqi Movement has issued a statement urging citizens to sign popular proxies endorsing ElBaradei. The Alliance of Egyptian Americans (AEA) in the United States has announced that it fully supports ElBaradei's demands. Mahmoud el-Shazly, head of the AEA, said he intends to send a letter to the interior minister and a letter to the Egyptian Ambassador in Washington DC to urge them both to allow expatriate Egyptians to vote in the elections. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
