The ultraconservative Salafist Nour Party will compete with the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party in parliamentary elections, signaling a rift between the country’s two largest Islamist movements.
The Nour party’s relationship with the Brotherhood is “tense,” Younis Makhioun, the group’s recently elected head, said in an interview with the state-run Al Ahram newspaper published today. “Our views on managing the state are different,” he said.
Makhioun was elected as head on Jan. 9 after 150 members resigned to form the Watan Party. The Nour Party trailed the Freedom and Justice Party in parliamentary elections last year, winning a quarter of seats. Egypt will start procedures for legislative elections on Feb. 25, state-run Ahram Gate website said, without elaborating.
The party may run for the presidency once the term of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Mursi ends in 2016, Makhioun said in a separate interview with the Asharq Alawsat newspaper published today.
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