The Salafist Nour Party will delay the announcement of its stance on the forthcoming parliamentary elections until the issuance of the law of dividing governorates, said party spokesperson Nader Bakar Sunday.
Bakar told The Cairo Post that the law will affect the party’s decision on the elections, adding that “the postponement of the law until now will probably cause the delay of the elections.”
As expectations rise regarding the delay of the parliamentary elections, which were to be held six months after the adoption of the 2014 constitution, according to post-July 3 road map, some attributed the reason to the current weak electoral alliances.
In preparation for the elections, a number of political parties decided to run independently while others merged together to form civil electoral alliances. Al-Ahram reported Thursday that twelve alliances have been announced so far.
Bakar further said that the Nour Party will announce their form of participation in the elections; whether as single, list or through joining one of the electoral alliances, after they study the present alliances and decide which one will be suitable to join.
“Although we do not mind joining alliances, as we consider them as ‘methods’ to get suitable representation in the coming parliament, the current alliances seem to be fragile,” added Bakar.
Also, the current alliances faced criticism due to the lack of solid platforms, which the public should use to determine who to vote for. They have, however, issued a document including the goals of both the January 25 Revolution and June 30 protests, as reported by Youm7.
Kamal el-Helbawy, a Muslim Brotherhood dissident commented Saturday on the huge number of parties running for elections, independently or in alliances, saying, “After two revolutions, it is a mess to have over 90 political parties and entities running for elections.”
Helbawy told The Cairo Post that candidates from “political Islam” parties are expected to only have low presence in the coming parliament and “this is due to their huge loss of the support of the masses.”
“Undoubtedly, the Nour Party was negatively affected under the ruling of the former Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, however, the party sought to lessen this effect during the last period through engaging with people and the results are positive,” said Bakar.
“So far, we achieved two goals of the road map, which are the presidential elections and the constitution, and we are seeking to achieve the parliamentary elections to be able to assist the voters,” said Bakar.
During the previous parliamentary elections 2011-2012, which followed the January 25 Revolution, the Nour Party won 24.36 percent of the parliamentary seats, coming in second after the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Freedom and Justice Party.
