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Nour Party: Don't Blame Islamists For Brotherhood's Mistakes

In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor, the head of the Egyptian Salafist Al-Nour Party, discusses the mistakes of the Muslim Brotherhood and the upcoming elections.

Younes Makhyoun (2nd R), head of the Salafist al-Nour Party attends a news conference with Presidential Media Advisor and spokesman Ahmed al-Muslimani (2nd L) at the party's headquarters in Cairo August 28, 2013. During the conference, Makhyoun stated that the Egyptian armed forces are a red line and reiterated al-Nour's support of the army's roadmap back to democracy, according to local media. Picture taken August 28, 2013.  REUTERS/Stringer  (EGYPT - Tags: POLITICS MEDIA) - RTX12ZWG
Younes Makhioun (2nd R), head of the Salafist Al-Nour Party attends a news conference with the presidential media advisor and spokesman Ahmed al-Muslimani (2nd L) at the party's headquarters in Cairo, Aug. 28, 2013. — REUTERS

ABU HUMMUS, Egypt — The head of the Salafist Al-Nour Party, Younes Makhioun, warned against what he described as deviations in the road map developed by the military council in Egypt under the leadership of Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in the aftermath of June 30.

In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor in the garden of his rural home, Makhioun confirmed that these deviations threaten the success of the road map and go beyond the transitional phase. He accused the current regime in Egypt and the civil forces led by the National Salvation Front (NSF) of practicing a policy of exclusion against the Islamist movements, and of committing the same mistakes as the previous regime and Mohammed Morsi.

Makhioun, who announced that his party will not field any candidate in the next presidential elections, revealed to Al-Monitor that his party does not mind supporting a candidate with a military background for the presidential elections, provided that this candidate has ended his military service.

Makhioun said that any Islamist candidate who would run for the presidential elections has weak chances and is doomed to failure. He stressed that his party will run in the next parliamentary elections alone, without any alliances with civil forces or Islamist movements.

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