Al-Nour Party will win coming election

Younes Makhyoun, chairman of Salafist Egyptian party, al-Nour, says his party's candidates will run for all seats of the Egyptian parliament in the coming election, expected to be held in May or June, expressing confidence that the party - which won about 25% of the seats of the 2012 parliament - will win majority this time. "We have already finished our list of candidates who will run for parliament, and we expect to win majority in the election," Makhyoun said in an interview with Arabstoday. Al-Nour party is widely considered a political arm of the Salafist movement in Egypt, which adopts an ultraconservative grasp of Islamic culture. The party achieved great success in the first parliamentary elections held after the January 25 2011 revolution. However, the parliament was annulled by a legal verdict in May 2012 due to constitutional violations in the law on which the election was regulated. Makhyoun, for his part, doesn't deny the close ties between his party and the Salafist movement - with which he is affiliated - saying both bodies are coming from the same backgroud. However, he said, the al-Nour Party runs in accordance with democratic mechanisms. "Egyptian law doesn't allow NGOs to be involved in politics, so we decided to let the Salafist movement remain as a platform for religious preaching, and we established the party to be a political representative for the Salafist mainstream, which completely commits to the mechanisms of democracy, either in competition with other parties or in the regulations of decision-making and the way the party is being run," Makhyoun said. On the links between his party and the ruling Muslim Brotherhood - who are considered a more moderate version of Islamists - Makhyoun said al-Nour party shares good relations with the Brotherhood in general. "They always seek our help when they have problems or feel they are in trouble," he explained. However, Makhyoun didn't hide his dissatisfaction with the work of President Mohammed Morsi's government, which has "failed to live up to people's expectations," he said, adding that he doesn't believe that a cabinet reshuffle would be the answer to the current failure. "We have to wait for the legislative election to set up a government based on the people's vote, so it would fulfil their wishes." Although he admitted President Morsi hasn't done enough in the seven-month period [since he was elected], Makhyoun stressed that the Islamist President has had to deal with "unfavourable conditions." "The top officials in many of the state's institutions are still loyal to the ousted regime of [former President] Hosni Mubarak, particularly in the security apparatus. Those officials are not helping him [Morsi] to succeed," Makhyoun said. "However, I blame Morsi for having no contact with the various political powers in the country. That has led to many shocking decisions on his part, where he should have consulted with other parties before making them; most notably the constitutional declaration of November 22. Such decisions have also shown that the President is not surrounded by the best advisers," he added. Makhyoun concluded the interview by underlining the necessity of dialogue among all factions of Egypt's political spectrum, saying the current stage requires "true cooperation" between the diverse political parties to help the country overcome ongoing political tension and economic crisis.