News

The Wafd party's board decided Friday afternoon to expel several leading members who have recently formed an opposition group against the current party head El-Sayid El-Badawy as internal crisis continues to rock Egypt's oldest liberal party.

In a meeting at the party's headquarters in Giza, the Wafd's high board expelled seven board members including Fouad Badrawy, Essam Sheha, Sherif Taher and Yassin Tag El-Din from the party permanently. 

For the second time in a year, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi ‎invited leaders of Egypt's mainstream political parties for a ‎meeting. A number of political figures said "the ‎invitation is a good step in the right direction although it came ‎as a big surprise and too late." ‎

Just like they drafted unified amendments for election laws last week, a number of Egyptian political parties have said that they plan to issue a unified report about President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi’s first year in office.

El-Sisi won Egypt's presidential elections by a landslide majority of 96 percent after a three-day vote in May, 2014. El-Sisi's one rival, leftist politician Hamdeen Sabahi, won almost 4 percent.

El-Sisi swore in as president of Egypt on 8 June, 2014.

Egypt’s Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab officially delegated Sunday Minister of Transitional Justice Ibrahim El-Heneidy to take charge of the Ministry of Justice until a new justice minister is appointed, the cabinet spokesman told Ahram Online.

Spokesman Hossam Gaweesh said there is no date yet set for the appointment of a new minister.

Former Justice Minister Mahfouz Saber handed-in his resignation last week after making comments that were widely seen as classist.

Hundreds of Wafd Party members flocked to the party’s Cairo headquarters on Friday to cast their ballots in internal elections, amid an ongoing rift between the party head and prominent members.

The rift began earlier this month when at least 1,200 members of the right-of-centre party met in the Nile Delta governorate of Sharqiya, announcing that they were withdrawing their confidence in party head El-Sayed El-Badawi.

El-Badawi responded on the same day, suspending the membership of eight prominent members of the party’s high board.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi met Wednesday with Al-Wafd Party leader El-Sayed El-Badawy along with other officials to discuss the latest crisis facing the party, Al-Ahram Arabic news website reported

The internal political crisis rocking Egypt's oldest liberal party has been on the rise since late April.

Following the meeting with El-SIsi, El-Badawy told Al-Ahram Arabic news website that he will be meeting with the party's high board members to discuss El-Sisi's advice.

Close to 40 political parties are to meet on Thursday to discuss an ‎initiative aimed at unifying the Egyptian opposition's ‎positions on the country's election laws and ‎moving the country's long-delayed parliamentary ‎polls forward. ‎

In public statements on Monday night, Akmal ‎Qortam, chairman of the Conservatives Party, said ‎that participants at Thursday's meeting would recommend holding ‎workshops on the three election laws for three days. ‎‎

A Cairo criminal court has upheld a three-year sentence against Mubarak on graft charges, but the former strongman will return home since he has served the full sentence, his defence team said.

The court also reduced a sentence on his two sons, Gamal and Alaa, to three years - down from four - in the same case on graft charges.

A new law regulating cybercrimes has already been approved by Egypt’s cabinet and only awaits presidential approval.

With Egypt witnessing an escalating wave of violence from militant groups, who have often used cyberspace as a medium for incitement, Information Minister Khaled Negm has repeatedly stressed the urgency of such a regulatory law.

The minister has stressed that the law would mainly aim to combat "extremist ideas" on social media, as well as fight hacking and piracy.