Controversy has begun over a new political part begun by Egypt's Salafi movement, al-Nour (‘the Light'), and its participation an electoral coalition of different parties. Al-Wafd Party did not mention al-Nour as one of the participants, while the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) confirmed the new party's participation. Sources said the participation of Ahmed Saher, the representative of al-Nour Party, was not welcomed by most political parties. Sources said El-Sayyed el-Badawi, chairman of al-Wafd Party, has strongly criticized Salafis in recent days. In the same context, al-Wafd and the Brotherhood agreed with the rest of the political parties to rule the Socialist Party of Egypt out of the coalition despite the participation of Gen. Adel al-Kola, the chairman of the party, in a meeting which gathered the Egyptian political parties on Wednesday. Ayman Nour, the founder of al-Ghad Party and a potential presidential candidate, said more than 20 parties are more dangerous than the remnants of the formerly-ruling National Democratic Party (NDP). The statement, titled "Towards an electoral coalition for Egypt," called for the formation of a national coalition including all political parties and powers. The coalition aims at supporting the principles of democracy and human rights and establishing a civil state. The statement added the "the national coalition aims at forming a parliament that will represent the people and to form a national unity government to formulate a common national plan that will include all political powers without ruling out any power as long as it is committed to with principle of the civil state." The statement said the political powers which participated in yesterday's meeting called on the different parties to join the coalition and form a committee to prepare the draft law which will organize the elections of the People's Assembly, the lower house of parliament, form a committee to study electoral coordination and formulate the rules and standards of the coordination. According to the two statements of the MB and al-Wafd, the political powers which will participate in the coalition are: al-Wafd Party, the Freedom and Justice Party, Free Egyptians Party, al-Wasat Party, the National Association for Change, al-Karama Party, and al-Ghad Party.
