The head of Salafi Al-Nour Party’s committee in the dissolved Peoples’ Assembly became the new party head on Wednesday. Following his election, Youness Makhyoun reached out to Copts, telling them “you are safe with us.”
Makhyoun ran unopposed after his contenders withdrew from elections shortly before they began at the party’s general assembly, held at Al-Azhar Conference Centre, Nasr City. Among the withdrawing contenders was Al-Sayed Mustafa Khalifa, former deputy head of the party.
Leading party member Sha’ban Abdel Aleem expressed his content with the election results. “It is very pleasant that all general assembly members have reached consensus over the new head of the party,” he said. He added that the way Makhyoun was chosen showed there isn’t competition within the party for leadership.
Following his election, Makhyoun specifically addressed Egptian Copts as “national partners”, reported state-owned Al-Ahram. He asked them not to listen to “those who use the Salafis and Al-Nour party as a scare-tactic against you”. He added that Islam preserves the Copt’s right to resort to their religious law. “You are safe with us; we shall offer you nothing but welfare,”
After Makhyoun’s election, the general assembly moved to electing its high board members and secretariats across the nation. The high board would elect three to four deputies for Makhyoun, Abdel Aleem stated.
Wednesday’s elections was the first since the rift which erupted within the party and ended up with its split. The party’s former head Emad Abdel Ghaffour teamed up with former spokespersons Mohamed Nour and Yousri Hammad alongside more than a 100 other party members who formed rival Salafi party Al-Watan a week ago.
