Amid deep divisions and clashes between members, the executive bureau of the liberal Wafd Party, Egypt's largest licensed opposition party, decided on Thursday to bow out of the parliamentary contest before Sunday's runoff elections. Wafd officials described the polls as having been marred by fraud, violence and thuggery. Thirteen executive bureau members approved the decision to quit the race. Only one objected. The Wafd, which held 12 seats in the outgoing parliament, had qualified to contest nine seats in Sunday's run-offs. Two prominent party candidates that had qualified for the runoffs, Fouad Badrawy and Mohammed Sherdi, both approved the decision to boycott. Sherdi told Al-Masry Al-Youm that, despite the boycott, "Wafd will continue its engagement in Egyptian politics, and will come back stronger than before." The executive bureau said that every candidate who wanted to proceed in the runoffs or, in the event that they won, continue in parliament, had the right to do so--but as a nominal independent. “Those who do not comply with the decision will be subject to the party's disciplinary committee and party rules," said Sherdi. On Wednesday, the party announced in a statement that it would not participate in the runoffs on Sunday and would boycott the incoming parliament entirely. The decision was taken, it added, because all party committees were “angry and dissatisfied” with the violence, bullying and fraud witnessed in the first round. Official results for the first round of the parliamentary polls showed Mubarak's National Democratic Party (NDP) sweeping the race, winning 209 of 221 seats. The Wafd, which presented some 175 candidates, won only two seats, while the banned-but-tolerated Muslim Brotherhood, which controlled one fifth of the outgoing parliament, failed to win a single seat. Reflecting divisions within the Wafd Party, clashes erupted today between supporters of Wafd member Atef Ashmony--who is competing in a runoff in the Matariaya constituency and who favored continuing the electoral race--and members who requested the party's total withdrawal. Mohammed al-Malky, Tark Sebag and Magda al-Noeishy are all party members that have qualified for runoffs and have rejected the boycott decision. The party was forced on Thursday to hold a press conference to announce its decision from the balcony of the party's headquarters after Ashmouny's supporters barged into the building and took over the premises. After some pushing and shoving--which culminated in Ashmouny's supporters taking over the entire space and using the podium as their drum--they finally retired after Ashmouny belatedly called them out. Ashmouny later told Al-Masry Al-Youm that his supporters had acted of their own free will, and not under his direction--“out of their love for [him] and a desire to not see their campaigning efforts come to naught,” he said. On Wednesday, Wafd Party Chairman Al-Sayed al-Badawi said in a video posted on the party's official website that he had received thousands of phone calls from party members asking him to withdraw from the electoral race. “Forging the will of the nation in the People's Assembly elections requires the announcement of Wafd's withdrawal from the runoffs," he said, going on to describe the elections as “a fiasco.” The United States has expressed dismay at reports of intimidation of voters and candidates during Sunday's poll. Rights groups said the elections had been marred by violence that claimed the lives of 16 people, in addition to 100 others throughout Egypt that had been injured during the polling. However, NDP Secretary General Safwat al-Sherif said that the ruling party had “done its best to ensure that the voting was clean and free of irregularities." Although the state-run High Elections Commission (HEC) admitted that some irregularities had taken place, it went on to assert that those irregularities had not affected the results of the election. At Thursday's press conference, al-Badawi declared: "We chose to boycott so we can be with the people--not with this fraudulent parliament." In the meantime, losing candidates affiliated with the Nasserist Party also called on the public to boycott the upcoming runoffs, citing the regime's systematic policy of rigging elections. And the Muslim Brotherhood announced on Wednesday that it too would boycott the runoff due to irregularities reported in the first round of voting. Prominent Wafd Party member Reda Edward, for his part, denied any coordination with the brotherhood in his party's decision to boycott the runoffs.
