(AFP File Photo)
The Salafi Al-Nour Party will not commit to an electoral coalition until district lines are drawn, announced chairman Younes Makhioun on Saturday.
The conservative Islamist party’s supreme body met on Saturday evening to agree on how it would proceed regarding upcoming parliamentary elections and begin determining party candidates across various governorates.
Those who attended the meeting included secretary-general of the party Galal Morra, supreme body head Tarek Al-Sahry and Al-Nour Party Deputy Chairman Mostafa Khalifa.
The party previously said it was open to forming a coalition with civil parties in elections. “There are a number of civil parties close to our orientations with whom we can form a coalition,” said assistant head Ashraf Thabet in an interview in June.
Al-Nour Party, which backed former president Mohamed Morsi’s ouster last year, is the only Islamist party that has thus far expressed its intentions to run in upcoming elections for the House of Representatives and has participated in the country’s transitional roadmap, including amending the constitution.
Earlier this summer the Salafi Da’wa in Matruh, which is associated with the party, said it would focus on preaching and distance itself from political developments.
Last month President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi formed a committee to oversee parliamentary elections. Former interim president Adly Mansour passed the elections law, but final districting for the elections have not been determined. The law stipulates the House of Representatives will consist of 540 elected seats and up to 27 more that will be appointed by the president, setting the total at 567. 420 of the elected seats will be voted in on an individual basis while the remaining 120 will adhere to the party list system.
