Salafist party dismisses fears of Islamists' rise in Egypt

A conspicuous change in post- Mubarak Egypt is the rise of Islamists, represented by the moderate Muslim Brotherhood (MB), an opposition group with a history of 83 years, and the ultra-conservative Salafists, who distanced themselves from politics under the former regime. In the ongoing landmark parliamentary polls after the fall of ex-president Hosni Mubarak in February, the Salafists have made a strong show and surprisingly ranked the second in seats after the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), the MB's political arm founded in June this year. The Al-Nour Party, the first and largest Salafist party in Egypt, won 82 seats, compared with 161 seats grabbed by the FJP, according to the results of the first two stages of the elections published by the official Ahram newspaper Sunday. "We wish to get a total of 120 to 125 seats in the parliament, which means 25 percent of the total seats," Emad Abdel Ghafour, chairman of the Nour Party, told Xinhua in an interview Sunday. The Nour Party has achieved significant success and popularity among Egyptians, said Ghafour, also founder of the party. He explained many people have lost hope in older parties, who failed to fulfill their expectations during the former regime, and therefore turned to new parties. With 100,000 members, the party was established in June by the Salafist Call movement in Alexandria. It has led an Islamic alliance, which includes the Salafi Asala Party and the Building and Development Party, in contesting the elections. The party calls for strict application of the Islamic law. Its conservative nature has aroused fears that it may force Islamic rules in the Egyptian society in the future. Tourism employees are concerned that the country's key economic sector would suffer heavy losses after Salafists have reached power. But Ghafour has different opinions. "The claims that the party will prevent women from working and force them to wear full face veils, or will expel minority Christians from Egypt, are lies," said the chairman in his temporary office housed in a residential building in southern Cairo's Maadi district. The party is also headquartered in Alexandria and the chairman said his party is planning for new office buildings in both cities in the coming months. The parties that couldn't gain popularity were behind these rumors, said 51-year-old Ghafour who grows a long beard typical of Salafists in Egypt. "We highly respect women and we protect their rights to learning, working and participating in politics," he said. "Concerning tourism, we know it is a profitable source for Egypt and the kind of tourism in Egypt is culture-based as we get the world know about our civilization and heritage," said Ghafour. "We have a program to develop tourism in the future." He also said non-Muslims could drink freely and eat whatever they want. "We will never force them to do anything." "Egypt's constitution states that Islam is the main religion and the main language is Arabic. The Shariaa (Islamic law) is the principal source for legislation," he said. "For people who wonder what kind of state will we have, will it be like Iran or Saudi Arabia? I want to tell them that we will have a distinctive, modern Muslim country guided by Islamic provisions, but no one will be forced to do anything," said Ghafour. He said he wanted to assure people that every citizen's rights will be protected and that as long as the provisions of law are fairly applied, justice and equality will be achieved. On the to-be-drafted new constitution, Ghafour said there will be some limits on the president's power and his connection to the military and that more power should be given to the syndicalistic posts and local councils. "The political reform is our first concern, including forming a national coalition government after the parliament elections," Ghafour said, adding that the second task is to draft the constitution and third to hold the presidential elections and local council polls. He stressed the party would work to achieve security and stability and then economic development and attract investment. " We seek political stability first and then economic stability." "There is a difference between us and the FJP. We are similar in the Islamic reference, but we are different in the aspect of application and commitment," he said. Meanwhile, Ghafour acknowledged the need for his party to work with other forces to solve Egypt's problems. "We can form a coalition with the FJP and all other parties for the sake of Egypt 's interests. Given the current security, economic and political problems, we have to unite to solve them." he said. According to Ghafour, a new national coalition government will be formed after the parliament elections and this will take place before June next year. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which took power in February, has said the presidential elections will be held before June 30. "We prefer the parliamentary system to the presidential system which gives more power to the president," he said. "We are conservative and we support the gradual transformation from a dictatorial society to a democratic one." The party said it respects all the international treaties Egypt has signed, including the peace treaty with Israel, and that talks have to be held to find a sustainable solution to the Palestinian issue as soon as possible.