Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat- Informed sources within the Al-Nur Party – the second largest parliamentary bloc after the Muslim Brotherhood party – say that the party’s decision-making process has motivated prominent members to withdraw from it and call for the establishment a new one to carry the Islamist banner.
Hasan Ismail al-Zayyat, who is forming the new party, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Al-Nur does not represent the political and religious aspirations of some of its members.
Sources revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat that the Al-Nur Party’s support for the Muslim Brotherhood’s presidential candidate Khairat al-Shater has increased the severity of the dispute within the party. Observers say that the Salafi call in Alexandria completely controls the party, but Al-Nur Official Spokesman Nadir Bakkar stresses that the party adopts the principle of Shura in its decision-making.
Al-Zayyat reveals that among the Al-Nur Party cadres there is a general dissatisfaction with the way decisions are made, and stresses that it does not observe the bases of Shura.
Al-Zayyat, who is a member of the party’s economic committee in the Giza Governorate, and in charge of forming the new party, explains that many members feel that they are marginalized deliberately by those in charge of the party. Al-Zayyat stressed that leading members of Al-Nur get their news about the party from the media. Adding that, “The party includes elite of trusted individuals, and marginalized members.”
According to Al-Zayyat, “Al-Nur’s parliamentary performance has been extremely feeble, and it has not had clear stances toward most of the essential issues.” Moreover, Al-Zayyat believes that Al-Nur was formed in a hasty way without any political plan or clear development project.
Dr Muhammad Yusri Salamah, Al-Nur Party former official spokesman who resigned from the party, says that the new party will include many of the supporters of presidential candidate Salah Abu-Ismail, who are pursuing the establishment of an independent political entity away from the umbrella of Al-Nur Party.
Salamah told Asharq Al-Awsat, “Al-Nur Party is not an independent political entity, and there are those who control it.” Salamah went on to say, “This has become clear as Al-Nur soon will announce its support for al-Shater for president.” The former spokesmen said that such support will increase the anger within the party, and stresses that this decision will motivate a large number of prominent personalities and party cadres to dissent.
Islamist observers say that the Sheikhs of the Salafi call in Alexandria control the decision-making in Al-Nur Party. The sources say that the disputes started to emerge after the issue of the presidential candidacy of Abu-Ismail emerged while there are competitors from the Muslim Brotherhood Group, which is considered the closest to the Salafi trend.
Members of Al-Nur, who spoke on condition that their names are not revealed, explain that Al-Nur’s abandoning of Salah Abu-Ismail, and not helping him in the crisis about the nationality of his mother, and the negotiating with al-Shater, has angered many Al-Nur members.
However Al-Nur Official Spokesman Nadir Bakkar is quick to state that there are no resignations from any of the party’s cadres, adding that “The decision-making mechanism in the party is completely democratic, and is based on Shura; moreover, the supreme council of the party consists mostly of young men.”
Bakkar added in a telephone interview after the meeting of the party’s supreme council that, “All the rumours about Al-Nur’s support for al-Shater are completely untrue. We have not decided on this issue yet.”