“We will not be silent over the massacre that took place in front of the Republican Guard today. We wanted to avoid bloodshed and now blood has been spilled. We therefore announce our withdrawal from all negotiating tracks,” announced the Nour Party on Monday morning. The Nour Party, continued the statement, was no longer dealing with the interim president, Adli Mansour. During the two days that preceded the statement the Nour Party was engaged in negotiations with Mansour over the creation of an interim government. When it was reported that Nobel Prize laureate Mohamed Al-Baradei had been named as prime minister, the Nour Party warned that it would withdraw from the political process in which most other political parties and the army were engaged. It objected to Al-Baradei as prime minister on the grounds of his “secularism”. It was subsequently announced that leading economist Ziad Bahaaeddin would become prime minister and Al-Baradei vice president. Again the Nour Party wielded its veto. Nour's decision to engage in the political process, which it repeatedly claimed was an attempt to prevent bloodshed, earned it accusations of treachery. Even before this, as the polarisation between the Muslim Brotherhood and the opposition grew more and more intense, the Nour Party was almost the only player urging the two sides to compromise. The Muslim Brotherhood failed to anticipate that the Nour, a partner in the dissolved parliament, would sign up to the roadmap announced by General Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi and take part in the creation of a coalition government. The Salafist Calling and its political wing, the Nour Party, posted a response to the Brotherhood's accusations of treachery on Salafist webpages: “To those who accuse us of treachery, disloyalty, making deals and betraying the Islamist project, we say, fear God and do not speak of intentions. You claim there have been deals but you were not there so you did not see and you have no evidence or proof. We swear by God that we have not made a deal and we have not betrayed our religion or our brothers. We acted as we did solely to spare bloodshed and to protect Sharia, so as to please God Almighty... God knows the sadness that fills our hearts over what is happening. We had never wished for the dismissal of Dr Mohamed Morsi. Rather, we hoped for his success and continuation. However, due to some mistakes and stubbornness, what happened happened.” The Nour Party then stressed that its participation with the new authority was an attempt to “minimise ills”. A Salafi Nour Party source has revealed what transpired in talks with other political forces and the army. He said Al-Baradei, who represents the Tamarod movement in the negotiations, had asked for “a new constitution” and that this was agreed to by Al-Azhar and the army. The Nour Party rejected the proposal and insisted on retaining the existing constitution, amending some articles but keeping those pertaining to identity untouched. The army and Al-Azhar agreed. “Al-Baradei,” said the source, “was trying to arrange a role for himself in the coming phase. We objected and insisted on neutral individuals, especially with regard to the premiership. This was also agreed. Al-Baradei also wanted a presidential council. We objected and prevailed. We also asked for the Shura Council not to be dissolved. “We tried to prevent the dismissal of Dr Mohamed Morsi and asked for another chance to mediate with the presidency and the Muslim Brotherhood but they refused because in the meeting that the minister of defence held with Dr Morsi on Tuesday 2 July 2013, Morsi agreed to issue a statement announcing his approval of early presidential elections but then failed to do so.” Though it was once part of a political alliance with the Muslim Brotherhood, relations between the Nour Party and the Brotherhood grew strained. Tensions between the two peaked with the dismissal of Nour Party member Khaled Alameddin as presidential adviser. A Nour Party representative was present at the press conference in which General Al-Sisi announced Morsi's dismissal though two days later the party issued a statement objecting to Interim President Adli Mansour's decision to dissolve the Shura Council. Few would have anticipated that the Nour Party would acquire the political leverage it has gained, especially following the dismissal of Morsi. The party's exercise of a veto on Al-Baradei's premiership has led liberal quarters to warn that the party will demand more and more. “The revolution was waged against these Islamist parties,” says Shadi Al-Ghazali Harb, one of the organisers of the anti-Morsi protests. “They will never compromise when it comes to drafting a new constitution.” He adds that an article clearly stipulating the separation between religion and politics urgently needs to be added to the constitution. Some political analysts argue the Nour Party is obstructing the process of forming a transitional government until its demands that it is allocated a major role in the transition are met. The Nour Party, which held the second largest parliamentary bloc after the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), had once banked on winning over FJP supporters who had become dismayed by the Muslim Brotherhood's policies and were looking for an alternative. Its secession from the alliance of Islamist parties made this very unlikely. Over the last few days, however, the party has been testing its strength once again, and in a novel way. It succeeded with its veto against Al-Baradei as prime minister, and again with its veto against Bahaaeddin. Then it withdrew from the political process and is exploring its next steps. Will it shift over to the Muslim Brotherhood and the pro-Morsi camp? That would certainly usher in a changed situation.
