Word: wafd
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...Trusted policemen jumped out of the other cars. Imam Bey rang the bell of the darkened house; a servant told him that Serag el Din was across the street at the elaborate villa of Nahas Pasha, onetime fellah and now the aging, feeble chief of the powerful, corruption-ridden Wafd Party. As Minister of the Interior, Serag el Din had been the power behind Nahas Pasha until Cairo's fiery January 26 riots had toppled them both from power...
...honest man without a party (TIME, March 10). But like all championship fights, this one has many more rounds to go, and Hilaly is still at a disadvantage. He can count on only one powerful friend, King Farouk, who has been waiting a long time to strike down the Wafd Party and Serag el Din. Honest Hilaly sadly lacks popular political support...
Parliament is suspended for the moment, and the huge Wafd majority in both Houses is powerless. The King's men can hold power for a while, buttressed by the army, the police, the curfew and tight press censorship. But the King's men haven't much time. The cry of "Down with the King!" is already being heard in student demonstrations...
Already the Wafd's propaganda machine, which reaches into the smallest hamlet, is buzzing that Hilaly is selling out to the British and trying to cover up by shouting about Wafd corruption. If Parliament should reconvene on April 2, after its 30-day suspension, Hilaly would be overwhelmed by the Wafdist majorities. Hilaly, fighting for time, asked Farouk to dissolve Parliament and order new elections...
...become "a rumor serpent." A few days before, Fuad students had paraded with placards threatening riots if the British were not thrown out within 20 days. Then the Premier announced, in a note to the King, that he would get after the corruption and nepotism which had poisoned the Wafd party. "Parliamentary seats are sold by auction," he said, "and government posts have become the prerogatives of relatives and friends...