As Egypt’s liberal opposition and the Muslim Brotherhood prepare for a potentially dramatic confrontation this weekend, one major group has been standing on the sidelines, biding its time as it learns the game of politics as well as the inner workings of government.
The Nour party, the ultraconservative Islamist group formed after Egypt’s 2011 revolution, has emerged as the country’s second-most formidable political force, winning a quarter of seats in the annulled 2012 parliamentary elections.
While the Muslim Brotherhood-dominated government of President Mohamed Morsi has repeatedly stumbled during its first year in power, the Nour party and other ultraconservative Salafi groups have secured posts in the government and mostly managed to avoid the ire of the public, even at times mediating between the liberal opposition and the presidency.
Unlike the liberals, the Nour party has built a robust nationwide political network in anticipation of parliamentary elections expected later this year or early next year.
“The Nour party and the Salafis in general have turned out to be surprisingly savvy political players and they’ve learnt that very quickly,” said Shadi Hamid, director of the Brookings Doha Center and the author of a forthcoming book on political Islam in the Arab world.
“They’re positioning themselves ahead of parliamentary elections in a very effective way,” he said. “They’re trying to present themselves as the Islamist alternative to the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice party. For the large swath of Egyptians who want to vote Islamist but are disappointed by Morsi, the Salafis are waiting in the wings.”
Egyptians fed up with the fuel shortages, electricity cuts, worsening unemployment and moribund economy that have characterised Mr Morsi’s first year in power are planning to gather in protests throughout the country on Sunday to demand early elections. Mr Morsi’s Islamist supporters are also rallying their supporters and many anticipate violent confrontations.
The Nour party finds itself in a politically enviable position, learning the ropes of government as it occupies middle-ranking positions, while continuing a dialogue with some pillars of the opposition and maintaining a critical distance from the increasingly unpopular Morsi government.
At the same time, it has continued charitable projects to curry favour with the poor, in some cases adopting projects, such as mobile health clinics and subsidised meat distribution, that were once championed by the Brotherhood.
“Egyptian people expected when you become the ruler of the country of course, you should give up charity work, and put this into an official framework,” said Nader Bakkar, an adviser to the leadership of the Nour party. “Instead the Ikhwan is concentrating only on how to put their members in government institutions.”
Since emerging after the revolution, the Nour party has had its share of embarrassments. One parliamentarian tried to explain a broken nose by claiming he was beaten up by thugs; it later emerged that he had cosmetic surgery. Another was caught live on television calling for the arming of Ethiopian guerrilla groups to convince Addis Ababa to halt a dam project. The party’s former leader quit his post to start a rival Salafi party.
Yet Nour has managed to weather each storm. Many of its supporters do not follow the sarcastic commentaries about its missteps on social media or in daily newspapers. In recent months, it has been quietly working behind the scenes to forge a common economic agenda to attract foreign investment, meeting officials from both the opposition and the Brotherhood, though nothing came of the idea.
While it has placed its officials at mid and high-level positions inside ministries, it has declined to take on any Cabinet posts, even though it was offered several. Instead it publicly pushed for non-political, technocratic ministers.
“The limited ministerial changes expected to take place in the coming days will not offer a solution to the crisis and will not add anything new,” Nour said in a statement following an April Cabinet reshuffle.
Despite espousing an extreme ideology that calls for a return to the ways of the Prophet Mohamed and his companions, Nour is attempting to position itself as a moderate force and a voice of stability mediating between the opposition and the government.
“I know that at the end of the day there will be the Freedom and Justice party and Nour party who are really the competitors. This is not a good sign, not a healthy sign because we need a liberal opposition,” Mr Bakkar said.
Nour party officials have publicly and privately advised leaders of the National Salvation Front, the umbrella organisation encompassing much of the liberal and secular opposition, not to pin all their hopes on the June 30 protests in case few people attend.
“We don’t want the 30th of June to fail completely because if it fails the Muslim Brotherhood will become a big monster that nobody can stop, and at the same time we don’t want chaos,” Mr Bakkar said. “We want it to be a pressure on the regime to have early parliamentary elections to formulate a coalition cabinet. We don’t want the regime to collapse.”
