Wafd Party Supreme Committee member Essam Shiha has said that party chairman El-Sayed El-Badawy has decided to pull the party out of the Democratic Alliance for Egypt, but emphasised that the decision has to be ratified by the committee’s members.

The Wafd Party and the Mulsim Brotherhood are considered to be the two main pillars of the Democratic Alliance, which has 34 parties under its umbrella.

Media reports said the Wafd had already decided to break the pact with the Brotherhood, but Shiha said the decision has not yet been ratified as thus is not effective. “El-Sayed El-Badawy made the decision, but he is not legally entitled to make it effective,” Shiha told Ahram Online.

“El-Badawy will meet with the Supreme Committee tomorrow; the committee has to approve the decision to make it effective,” Shiha added.

The parties of the Democratic Alliance plan to form joint lists of candidates for the upcoming parliamentary elections.