CAIRO: Al-Wafd Party's general assembly will elect a new higher committee and members of the general secretariat on Friday, in what has been described as the liberal party's most intense internal elections in years. Participants said the elections will be decisive for the future of the party. A number of candidates had earlier filed a lawsuit demanding the suspension of the elections, accusing the current chairman Al-Sayed Al-Badawy of violating the party's bylaws, but their lawyer arrived late to the hearing Thursday and so the judge dropped the case. A rising opposition stream led by the party's youth and middle generation leadership is competing against another supported by Al-Badawy for a majority in the party's decision-making higher committee. "This is an important date for Al-Wafd; the youth decided to participate and a lot of leadership [members] decided to participate, which will reflect on the future of the party in the parliamentary elections," said Mohamed Sherdy, Al-Wafd's official spokesman. A total of 191 candidates are vying for 50 seats in the committee while 21 candidates will contest five seats in the general secretariat. The numbers reflect the highest participation in the history of the party. Following the January 25 Revolution, a number of young and leading members made strong calls for reform in the party's policies, accusing the current party's leadership of not adopting clear stances on the revolution and not participating in it. "We want to change everything in the party; its political discourse, its street presence and even its president. We are very hopeful and are competing under the slogan ‘The revolution's youth restructures Al-Wafd,'” said Khalil Al-Awamy, one of the youth members and a candidate for the higher committee. He said they want to reform Al-Wafd's relationship — as the biggest liberal party in Egypt — with the public. "Al-Badawy is the only political [figure] that did not visit Tahrir Square [during the uprising] because of his policies and stances on the revolution and his collaboration with the Muslim Brotherhood. We want to bring Al-Wafd back as a liberal party and restore its relationship with the public," Al-Awamy said. Candidates who filed the lawsuit accuse Al-Badawy of violating the party's bylaws by adding more than 277 members — which he previously appointed at specialized committees — to the general assembly after calling for the assembly. They also say Al-Badawy excluded 90 percent of applications for committee membership without consulting the higher committee and the executive bureau. Instead, Al-Badaway reportedly brought in "his people" and presented their names to the higher committee only last week. This, candidates say, forms a strong voting bloc that may sway the results of the elections. Sherdy denied the accusations and said that members of the specialized committees are respected people and some of them even disagree with Al-Badawy on certain issues. "There has never been any election without challenges in courts; bylaws allow members of the specialized committees to vote in the elections," he said. The elections will be monitored by a committee of neutral and prominent political figures. Essam Sheha, a candidate affiliated with the internal opposition stream, said there is a strong demand in the party to allow a bigger role for the youth, but frustration that this has not taken place. He also expressed fears that Al-Badawy will bring in ex-National Democratic Party members to field in the parliamentary elections. "If the results of the elections are manipulated, the party's public image will be hurt and a lot of members will consider quitting the party and forming new ones," he said. Sherdy denounced accusations about forging elections as "rubbish", emphasizing that they are supporting the youth; if they succeed, they will do it through elections, he said. Sheha called for renewing the party's bylaws and program, increasing the number of higher committee members, only fielding candidates from the original Al-Wafd party members and activating the role of the party's channel and newspaper in governorates as well as creating committees for women and youth. "There are different blocs and views in the elections; we will begin a long-overdue period of internal restructure in which governorate committees will be changed, as well as a number of internal procedures," Sherdy said. He said that Al-Badawy has been postponing in order to avoid being accused of bringing in his men to dominate the party. The party is considering using e-voting for the first time in elections, and called upon media and public figures to monitor them.
