Egypt: Salafis Attempt to Form Political Party

Alexandria-based Salafist youth are forming a political party ahead of upcoming parliamentary elections in Egypt.  The Nour Party, as it would be called, has roughly 5,000 founding members which has allowed it to apply for party status.  Party leader Yasser Metwalli stressed that the party was comprised of Salafi youth and had no connection to Salafi clerics.  The party will now have to prove to the Political Parties Affairs Committee that it is not based on religion, gender, class or sectarian bases to be eligible to run a candidate list.  Nona El-Hennawy, writing for AlMasry AlYoum, thinks this may be a tall order given that Metwalli himself has said the party has a religious “frame of reference,” and that it would oppose anything that contradicts Sharia, even if accepted by the majority.  Metwally also said the party would not accept a woman or a Coptic Christian as President.