CAIRO — The Higher Committee of Al-Wafd Party (one of the oldest Egyptian parties) decided Sept. 19 to hold early elections for the party’s leadership within a month.

The decision comes a few days after disputes emerged with party leader Bahaa Abu Shoka over his decision to participate in the National Unified List for Egypt — which is running for the Egyptian parliamentary elections (due Oct. 21 and 25) — despite the opposition of some of his party members over the quota of seats allocated to Al-Wafd in the list. The party was allocated 19 seats out of a total of 284 in the National Unified List for Egypt — i.e., half of the 568 total number of seats in parliament. The Unified List includes 12 political parties that support Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

The dispute escalated with Abu Shoka when several members of Al-Wafd Higher Committee (30 out of 42) announced Sept. 17 their withdrawal from the electoral list and the cancellation of the individual coalition contesting the remaining 284 seats reserved for individual candidates.

Abu Shoka released a statement on Sept. 17 shortly after Al-Wafd’s Higher Committee held a meeting on that day. He said, “The meeting was held in violation of the bylaws of the party. Therefore, it is null and void, as are its decisions.” He announced that the party will remain on the National Unified List for Egypt.