WAFD

In November 1918, at the end of World War I, the Egyptian Legislative Assembly charged a delegation (wafd), led by Sa?d Zaghlul, with demanding of the British high commissioner that they be allowed to petition the British government for Egyptian independence. The high commissioner's refusal led to the formation of a coalition to agitate for independence. Some of the group's leaders were expelled. Widespread demonstrations and uprisings in 1919 led the British to grant nominal independence in 1922; the Wafd organized itself as a nationalist political party in 1924 and dominated Egyptian political life until the fall of the monarchy in 1952. In December 1922, King Fu'ad, needing the backing of the party to promulgate a new constitution, drew close to the Wafd, which continued nevertheless to demand an end to the British occupation. In January 1924 the party won the legislative elections and Zaghlul formed the first constitutional government of Egypt.

The new prime minister soon clashed with the king, who wanted to retain all his prerogatives. Following the assassination of the British commander of the Egyptian army and under pressure from the British, Zaghlul resigned on 24 November 1924. Out of power for nine years, the Wafd returned to the government in November 1934 through the initiative of the British who, threatened by Italian designs on the Red Sea, needed a strong Egyptian government behind them. Negotiations led by Mustafa al-Nahhas (known as Nahhas Pasha), the successor to Zaghlul, who had died in 1927, resulted in a treaty, signed on 26 August 1936, in which Great Britain recognized the independence of Egypt. After Nahhas resigned as prime minister, a scission in the party led to the creation, on 3 January 1938, of the Sa?dist party.

On 4 February 1942, in the midst of World War II, Britain forced a Wafdist anti-German government on King Faruk. After the victory of his party in the legislative elections, Nahhas returned to power in January 1950. The Wafd remained at the head of the government until the revolution of July 1952, which saw the fall of the Egyptian monarch. The new regime, put into place by the Free Officers movement, suspended the constitution and dissolved all political parties, including the Wafd. Twenty-five years later, on 4 February 1978, under the impetus of Fuad Serag al-Din and Ibrahim Farag, the Wafd was officially reconstituted and renamed the Neo-Wafd (al Wafd al-Gadid). The new party adopted "socialism as economic and social system, but without foreign ties," while recognizing Islamic law (shari?a) as the "original source" of the law. As an opposition party, criticizing the regime of Anwar al-Sadat, the group found itself under pressure to cease its activities. After Sadat's assassination in November 1981, the coming to power of Husni Mubarak allowed the Neo-Wafd to resume its activities. Having made a strategic alliance with the Muslim Brotherhood in the 1984 elections, the Neo-Wafd won fifty-eight seats and by 1990 emerged as the main opposition force in Egypt. It boycotted the 1993 elections. It has become the party of a small minority.

SEE ALSO Mubarak, Husni;Muslim Brotherhood;Sadat, Anwar al-;Shari?a.