Salafis to take part in Egypt's post-coup parliamentary elections

The Egyptian Salafist Nour Party will contest the upcoming parliamentary elections on the same lists with ex-Mubarak henchmen, Egyptian media reported.

The Nour Party, which supported the 2013 military coup against freely elected president Mohamed Morsi, will join the National List, led by Mubarak-era diplomat Amr Moussa and ex-minister of interior Ahmed Gamal al-Din.

Senior member of the Nour Party, Ali Katamesh, admitted that his party is holding talks with a number of icons of the Mubarak regime, whom he considered: “honorable members of the National Democratic Party who were not involved in corruption.” He pointed out that Mubarak’s NDP “had no problem with Egypt’s Islamic identity”, unlike the “secular, civil lobby which adopts anti-religious agendas.”

Katamesh stressed that his party has “sharp ideological and religious disagreements with the secular current which seeks to cancel any role of religion in public life,” which prompted his party to ally with remnants of the Mubarak regime.

According to Khaled al-Zaafarany, expert in Islamist affairs, the Nour Party will run in the upcoming elections on the pro-June 30 list, after the presidency’s refusal to amend the elections law in a way that allows them to have their own list.

Another Salafi party, Al-Watan Party, a breakaway from the Nour Party, announced it will take part in the parliamentary elections “to prevent the NDP’s dominance over the parliament.” The decision has been criticised by the Anti-Coup National Alliance, of which Al-Watan is a member.

The Islamic Group (Jamaa Islamiya) has not yet decided whether it will participate in elections. The Muslim Brotherhood, on the other hand, said it will boycott, considering them “illegitimate.”