A Salafi Nour Party leader said members met last week with the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party to coordinate candidate nominations ahead of upcoming parliamentary elections. However, the Freedom and Justice party denied the two groups were collaborating. During the Thursday meeting, leaders from both parties agreed to support the most prominent Islamist candidate running for a given seat and pull the weaker candidates from the race so Islamists wouldn't split the vote, Nader Bakkar, a member of the Nour Party's Supreme Committee, told Al-Masry Al-Youm. The strategy, according to Bakkar, will help ensure that Islamist candidates, either affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood or Salafis, would win their elections. He said the parties would hold a second meeting early next week to determine the best candidates for each district. Freedom and Justice Party Secretary General Mohamed Saad al-Katatny denied any coordination with the Nour Party over individual seats. Waheed Abdel Meguid, head of the electoral coordination committee within the Democratic Alliance, which is led by the Freedom and Justice Party, said several political groups are communicating about the single-winner seats. Abdel Meguid expects talks, which were halted for the eid vacation, to wrap up within a few days.
