On his first campaign tour in advance of upcoming Shura Council elections, Mahmoud Abaza, president of the liberal opposition Wafd Party, denied on Tuesday that his party had received funding from foreign sources. "We are the only party that takes no money from abroad, or even from the government," Abaza said. "Our finances are tightly controlled by the Central Auditing Agency." "There are ten wealthy people funding the ruling National Democratic Party," he added. "When they stop paying, the party will collapse." Abaza went on to say that Egypt was undergoing a "process of change" and that his party intended to play an "important role" in that process. "I've been working on consolidating the party after the problems it faced under its former president, Noaman Gomaa," he said, in an effort to explain why the party had not held political rallies in the last four years. "But now we can move forward with a strong political program and prepare our young members for political life," he said, adding that all party branches would soon be connected electronically. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
