http://www.smh.com.au/world/fears-of-islamist-alliance-in-egypt-20120122-1qc4b.html
Fears of Islamist alliance in Egypt Leila Fadel, Cairo January 23, 2012 a.. Emad Abdel-Ghafour, head of the Salafi party Al-Nour, during a recent news conference. Photo: Reuters FOLLOWERS of a puritanical form of Islam will fill about a quarter of the seats in the lower house of the new Egyptian parliament today, underscoring the political power being wielded by Islamists in the wake of the Arab Spring. Finding themselves badly outnumbered, in the wake of the result, some Egyptian liberals are weighing whether to align themselves with the moderate Muslim Brotherhood in hope of preventing an all-Islamist alliance between the Brotherhood - whose Freedom and Justice Party will be the largest in the new parliament - and the ultra-conservative Salafist Nour party, the second-largest. The Freedom and Justice Party took 47 per cent of seats in the lower house of parliament, and the Salafist Nour party won 25 per cent of the seats. Advertisement: Story continues below The Brotherhood was banned under former president Hosni Mubarak but has emerged as a major force on the political scene since the uprising last year. Some liberal Egyptian politicians say a tactical alliance between their forces and the Brotherhood is being encouraged by Western diplomats alarmed by the prospect of a further shift to the right after last year's toppling of Mubarak. They say the two Islamist groups could be pushed together if liberals refuse to negotiate with the Muslim Brotherhood in the coming parliament, which will have to appoint a body to write the constitution. ''They're scared of the Salafis and they want the secular people to join with the Brotherhood so the Brotherhood and Salafis don't join together,'' Mohammed Abou el Ghar, who heads the leftist Social Democratic Party, said in describing what he called Western fears. The Salafists adhere to a hard-line interpretation of Islam that advocates a staunch segregation of the sexes and forbids alcohol, and they have insisted that they won't compromise their Islamic values. Rivalry between the two Islamist groups makes an alliance between the Salafists and the Muslim Brotherhood unlikely. But the two parties do play to an overlapping Islamist base, and the Salafists' strong electoral showing has given new prominence to issues involving morality. ''The Nour party's presence definitely puts pressure on the Freedom and Justice Party'' in a conservative direction, said Mohammed Beltagy, a Freedom and Justice MP, adding that his party's own wins could pressure the Salafists to become more moderate. While recent high-level American emissaries have reached out to the Freedom and Justice Party, US officials have generally avoided the Nour party. A first official meeting between US ambassador Anne Patterson and representatives of the Salafist party was scheduled overnight. Members of the Salafist party say they are trying to counter what they call a smear campaign depicting them as scary conservatives who will transform Egypt into a rigid Islamic state like Iran. They have stated publicly that they would conditionally respect the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, and have tempered language about Islamic tourism and banking laws that scare foreign investors. The party has expressed interest in tacit agreements with liberals on social issues, such as striking out the hated emergency law. But Nader Bakkar, a party spokesman, said it doesn't intend to enter binding alliances with other parties because that would compromise its Islamic principles. WASHINGTON POST, LOS ANGELES TIMES Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/fears-of-islamist-alliance-in-egypt-20120122-1qc4b.html#ixzz1kJAmjAQA [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
