Egypt’s oldest political party to run in first presidential polls since 2011

Abdel-Sanad Yamama, the leader of Egypt’s opposition Wafd Party, has been nominated to run in the upcoming presidential elections.

The polls are scheduled for 2024 and Wafd is participating for the first time since 2011.

Ninety percent of the party’s supreme body voted recently to support Yamama’s candidacy. The party is the oldest political grouping in the country.

Yamama appointed Yasser Al-Hudaybi, the party’s secretary-general, as the media spokesperson for the electoral campaign.

Yamama took over the presidency of the Wafd Party in March 2022 after winning by a narrow margin over rival BahaaEddin Abu-Shoka.

Yamama had previously met with representatives and heads of the party’s youth committees in the governorates, at the organization’s headquarters in Giza’s Dokki district. He called on Wafd’s youth to participate in the upcoming polls.

He said the youth were the hope and future of the party and that their views must be heard.

Earlier, Al-Hudaybi revealed that Article 19 of the party’s bylaw stipulates that the supreme body decides who should be nominated to run in the elections.

In 2018, the Wafd Party’s supreme body rejected former leader El-Sayed El-Badawi’s request to run in Egypt’s presidential elections.

The second paragraph of Article 140 of Egypt’s constitution stipulates that the procedures for electing the president of the republic should begin at least 120 days before the end of the presidential term.

Earlier, Diaa Rashwan, general coordinator of the National Dialogue, an initiative launched in May to generate debate around the country’s future, said that the judiciary, as always, would oversee the elections, adding that the National Election Authority would convene in full on Oct. 10.

In previous statements, Yamama, who joined the Wafd Party in 2004, pointed out that his election manifesto would be revealed after internal consultations.

Wafd, a liberal-oriented party, started its political life under the former monarchy. The party was founded after Egypt’s 1919 nationalist revolution against British occupation. The party grew quickly, eventually leading several governments.