Egypt’s leading Salafist party would be satisfied if the next Egyptian President had a military background. Dr. Younis Makhyon, a senior member of the Al-Nour Party, has revealed that the party does not oppose the candidacy of a former military official during the upcoming presidential elections, providing that the candidate did not support former President Hosni Mubarak’s regime.
Makhyon told media on Wednesday: “We have our criteria to choose Egypt’s next President. He does not have to belong to the Islamic movement. Egypt has many loyal and national talents who are not hostile to the Islamic project. We need someone who does not belong to the Islamic trend but has religious commitment like any Egyptian.”
The Muslim Brotherhood described the party’s comments as a “coup” against the revolution and its freedoms. Hussein Abdul Qadir, a senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood who is in charge of the Freedom and Justice Party’s political communications, responded by saying: “the Al-Nour Party is accustomed to dealing with the security services and accepting the military police authority. The party is good at dealing with those regimes that suppress freedoms.” Abdul Qadir described Makhyon’s statement as “a coup against the January revolution. They reveal the Salafist Party’s real intentions and disbelief in the freedoms demanded by the revolution.”