Al Nour Party logo Al- Nour Party held tests for its members over the weekend in order to raise the levels of political awareness of the party's members ahead of the upcoming internal elections in the party. The test consists of 36 true or false questions, half of which are about the party and its vision regarding the political and economic system, in addition to the party's vision on reforming the country's security system. The second half of the test quizzes the members of the party on a more general set of political notions such as political systems, the state and the people, and the legislative authority. Dr. Yousry Hammad, the Al-Nour Party's official spokesperson, explained that this test merely “points out how aware the members of the party are of the political culture. It's more of an educational course rather than a test," Hammad explained. These tests were taken by members of the party across the nation simultaneously on Friday afternoon. Al-Nour Member of the Shura Council, Khaled Orabi, has also taken the test. The party announced appreciation on Saturday morning on its official Facebook page for all members of the party who took the tests. Both members of the party who pass this test and those who fail will be allowed to take part in the party's internal elections, Hammad added, explaining that the point of the test is only to increase the members' political knowledge. According to independent newspaper, Al Dostor, the test was designed by professors of political and administrative sciences from the party, in addition to professors who do not belong to the party. The party is holding internal elections in mid-September. About 150 members of the party have announced their resignations, said independent newspaper, Youm7. Among the reasons why they resigned was in objection to the delaying of the internal elections of the party, Nader Bakar told Al Dostor. The chairman of the party, Emad Abdel- Ghafour, was recently appointed as one of the members of Mohamed Morsy's presidential team. He's one of the president's four appointed assistants; he is Morsy's assistant for community outreach. Abdel-Ghafour was rumoured to have resigned as chairman of the party after joining the presidential team. However, according to the party's website, Yousri Hammad has stated on Facebook that Abdel-Ghafour has not resigned as the party's chairman. Al-Nour Party is one of the parties founded after the 2011 Revolution. The party is a Salafist Party that follows a conservative interpretation of Islam and believes that the Islamic jurisprudence or Shari'a should be applied. The party has won an unexpectedly high number of seats in the parliamentary elections. It won over 22 percent of the seats of the People's Assembly, the lower house of parliament, securing 111 out of almost 500 seats. In addition, it won 25 percent of the seats of the Shura Council, the upper house of parliament.
