Wafd Party expounds elections platform for presidency

Leader of opposition Al Wafd Party in Egypt, Noaman Gomaa, who registered with the presidential election commission to run in the coming presidential election due Sept 7, said his party would pay much attention to the poor.

Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters on Sunday, Gomaa said al-Wafd was "The House of the Nation," not the party of the elite, as some quarters claimed.

Strong ties with Iran, a country of political significance on the regional and international levels, according to Gomaa, topped his foreign policy priorities.

"We believe the Palestinians must regain all their legitimate rights," he said.

As for Sudan, Gomaa said it was a twin state of Egypt, adding that all the difficulties it was facing should be overcome through diplomatic channels.

Sudan's territorial integrity must be maintained, he said, adding that enemies of the nation were plotting to divide Sudan into several small states.

Meantime, the Ministry of Interior source denied today allegations reported in the Sunday morning edition of the Al-Arabi newspaper, affiliated with Arab Nasserist Party, that security forces were pursuing, detaining and surrounding the campaign meetings of supporters of presidential nominees who are in competition with the President in the forthcoming election.

In addition it was alleged by the newspaper that a large number of supporters of the Al-Wafd Party's nominee had been arrested.

An official Ministry of Interior source that security forces have not pursued or arrested any supporters of the Wafd Party's nominee, or those of any other party's nominee. Nor have they surrounded their campaign meetings, the source added. He asserted that the agencies of the Ministry of Interior were committed to neutrality in regards to activities related to the electoral process.

The source concluded by saying that these types of allegations were an unfortunate tactic in light of the existing national consensus to assure the success of the ongoing democratic process.