This resource was published on 09/20/2011 and is not updated to reflect changing circumstances.
Al-Wafd is one of the old, established political parties seeking to find their place in post-uprising Egypt. Rooted in history, today’s party, technically the New Wafd but always referred to simply as al-Wafd, is the successor to the once powerful organization Gamal Abdel Nasser disbanded in 1952. It is competing with new liberal parties that cannot claim a historical name and legacy but have younger and more dynamic leaders.
Al-Wafd’s difficulties are shown by its uncertain alliances. It was originally a member of the Democratic Alliance, but left the alliance on October 7, 2011 to run independently in the 2011-2012 parliamentary elections. The party’s wavering on the decision to stay in the Democratic Alliance lost al-Wafd some important members.
Major Party Figures
Sayyid al-Badawi: Chairman
Fouad Badrawi: Deputy chairman
Ahmed ‘Auda: Secretary-general
Monir Fakhri Abdel Nour: Secretary-general and parliamentary representative, resigned
Background
The New Wafd Party was established on February 4, 1978, a successor to the party that played the central role in Egyptian politics for decades until it was banned after the 1952 revolution. Al-Wafd was one of several political parties that emerged when President Anwar Sadat introduced limited pluralism into the political process. Despite its glorious historical antecedents, ever since it was revived al-Wafd has struggled with internal divisions, aging leaders, and lack of dynamism. That situation that did not improve even after 2001, when the leadership was transferred from Fouad Siraj al-Din, a pre-1952 secretary-general, to a somewhat younger Noman Gomaa. The situation worsened further when Ayman Nour launched the al-Ghad Party in 2004 after resigning from al-Wafd, taking with him almost a quarter of the al-Wafd Party’s members.
Historically the party of the business elites and the Copts, al-Wafd has had trouble holding on to those constituencies and attracting new ones. The business elites gravitated toward the National Democratic Party, particularly after the launching of economic reforms. Copts became leery after al-Wafd entered into a short-lived electoral alliance with the Muslim Brotherhood in 1984.
During the 2010 parliamentary elections the al-Wafd Party confused voters. It participated in the first round of voting, but then announced that it would not participate in the second round because elections were fraudulent. That announcement was made after the party only won two seats. It went on to win six seats when the names of its candidates were not removed from the ballot in time but was unable to claim its seats because it had called for an election boycott.
The overthrow of Hosni Mubarak caused a new crisis for the troubled party. Its secretary-general, Monir Fakhri Abdel Nour, accepted a position as minister of tourism in the new cabinet formed by Prime Mister Ahmed Shafiq. His decision alienated many Wafdists because the cabinet included ministers affiliated with the old regime.
Divisions continued to plague al-Wafd. The party joined the Democratic Alliance, but prominent party members recommended in August 2011 that it withdraw and join the Egypt Bloc instead. While the party as a whole did not switch sides at that time, some prominent members did, further weakening the party and adding to the impression of uncertainty it has been projecting for a long time.
Platform
Political Issues
- Imposing a two-term limit on the presidency and decreasing the power of the president
- Enforcing separation of powers between the three branches of government and ensuring the independence of the judiciary, particularly of the Supreme Constitutional Court
- Ensuring human rights and democracy
- Abolishing all special security courts and repealing the emergency law
- Requiring the nomination of a vice president
- Enacting a law allowing the prosecution of ministers and members of the executive branch
- Eliminating corruption from judicial appointments, which should be based solely on the basis of merit and service
- Giving the parliament the right to accept or reject any bill without having to consent to conditions or amendments mandated by the executive
- Ensuring free and fair elections without corruption
- Repealing all laws that restrict the exercise of civil liberties
- Guaranteeing freedom of expression for any idea that does not contradict public morality
- Protecting privacy rights, freedom of assembly, freedom of movement, and freedom to form trade unions
Socioeconomic Issues
- Developing a free private sector and limiting the public sector to crucial areas that affect the general welfare, including basic services such as health care, electricity, water, telephone, roads, and security
- Forbidding monopolies of all types
- Ensuring freedom of trade and commerce, allowing supply and demand, not the government, to dictate the market
- Deregulating the banking industry, especially by abrogating regulations that hinder investment
- Improving the education of the Egyptian populace while not neglecting spirituality and religion in the educational system
- Promoting alternative forms of education to increase literacy, including online and distance education
Foreign Policy Issues
- Restoring Egypt’s role as regional leader through its strategic position in the Arab world
- Strengthening the Arab League and using diplomacy to mediate differences so Arabs can arrive at common positions
- Working to establish a common Arab market
- Strengthening democracy throughout the Arab world by making Egypt a model for the region
- Supporting a free and independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital
- Rejecting the label of terrorism as applied to violent resistance to Israeli occupation
- Pressuring Israel through all means to withdraw from the occupied territories, but respecting all international agreements signed between the Palestinians and the Israelis
- Ensuring that the strategic Egyptian-American relationship remains strong but that it is based upon a balance of interests
- Rejecting the U.S. bias toward the state of Israel and the use of U.S. aid to Egypt since the peace treaty of 1979 to serve the interests of America or Israel
- Rejecting the U.S. doctrine of preemptive and preventative wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
- Conditioning normal relations with Israel on the return of the entire West Bank and Gaza to the Palestinians, the Golan to Syria, and the remaining Lebanese territories to Lebanon and on closing the nuclear reactor at Dimona
