Hassan Ibrahim / DNE
Al-Nour Party will create a reconciliation committee to resolve the organisation’s internal dispute. An internal vote in Al-Nour Party shows that 98 per cent of the group favors adopting an initiative to reform the party to put an end to a current rift among members, according to the party’s spokesman.
“The vote was attended by 114 out of 150 members of the party’s people’s assembly and shura council, 17 out of the 19 members of its high commission, and 22 governorate secretaries out of 29,” said the party’s spokesman Nader Bakar in a press conference on Monday evening.
Bakar said that in the meeting among senior members, the party decided to form a committee comprised of members agreed upon among the different disputing factions. He also mentioned that the party was considering implementing specialised training and exams as a factor to determine promotions within the party.
The spokesman of the influential Salafi party also stated that Tarek Al-Dessouki, who is in charge of electoral oversight, had been commissioned to examine complaints. He expressed the importance of continuing party elections, which went through its second phase on Friday, in the face of calls for their cancellation.
The dispute began when former party chairman Emad Abdel Ghafour suspended elections after they had already taken place in 19 regions. In response he was removed from his post and replaced by his vice chairman, El-Sayed Khalifa. Abdel Ghafour then rejected his dismissal, attempting to suspend other senior members of the party, including Ashraf Thabet and Bakar.
Despite calls for reconciliation, Abdel Ghafour and his supporters announced on Tuesday that they had filed a complaint to Al-Ahram newspaper about one of their journalists, for allegedly working with “the Yasser El-Borhami front.” El-Borhami is a senior leader of the Salafi Calling, who sided with Bakar and Thabet in the dispute.
“The Al-Ahram journalist represents a clear case of a conflict of interest after his appointment in the Supreme Press Council and in the newspaper, which is overseen by dissidents with profitable salaries,” said the party’s Twitter account, which is currently controlled by Abdel Ghafour’s faction.
The party has insisted that its internal elections will continue as scheduled.
