- DemocracyElection Coverage
- September 18, 2010
- 3 minutes read
Wafd Party confirms participation in Elections
Egypt’s Wafd party has announced that it will take part in the upcoming parliamentary elections, scheduled to take place in November.
The decision was made despite calls from other political opposition groups to boycott the poll due to the regime’s neglect to meet demands for reform. Former IAEA chief Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, had appealed for a boycott which was supported by the Ghad party earlier this month.
According to a report in its paper the Wafd party held a vote where 504 members voted in favour of participating as opposed to 407 against the idea. No set date however has been confirmed for the actual parliamentary elections.
During the 2005 elections the popular Muslim Brotherhood acquired 20 percent of seats in parliament after running as "independents,” in an unprecedented win. The Wafd although being the oldest and once most active party had secured only a handful of members as opposed to the ruling NDP which won a majority of the seats in what was described as wide rigging of ballots and evident fraud.