20111119
Reuters
(Reuters) - Islamists ranging from ultra-conservatives to moderates could secure more than 30 percent of seats in Egypt's first free parliamentary election in decades that will be launched later this month, a member of a Salafist group said Friday.

Youssry Hamad, a leader of the Al-Nour (Light) Party which follows a strict interpretation of Islamic teaching, also accused liberals of smearing their image by using stereotypes that wrongly suggested the group would drag Egypt back in time.

"We are surprised to find that the liberal and secular current, which rejects the doctrine of Islam, distorts our image in the media through lies and speaks about us as if we came from another planet," Hamad told Reuters.

"We will not tell people to ride camels, as others have said about us. We want a modern and advanced Egyptian society of people," he said.

The three-phase vote for the lower house of Egypt's parliament starts on November 28. The new assembly will draft a constitution, raising the stakes for politicians seeking to set Egypt on a new course after ousting Hosni Mubarak.

Islamists say liberals are trying to destroy Egypt's Islamic identity. Liberals fear Islamists want to create a constitution that will put the nation on a path to establishing an Islamic state that they fear will remove civil liberties.

Thousands of mostly Islamist Egyptians protested in Cairo on Friday against the army-backed cabinet's proposal for a constitution that could let the military defy the elected government. "Islamic, Islamic, we don't want secular!" many chanted.

"We are the strongest in terms of our grassroots power in Egypt at the moment," said Hamad, referring to Salafis, adding that Islamists as a whole could secure 30 percent or more of the 498 elected seats up for grabs in the lower house.

"We represented the widest grassroots base during Mubarak's regime, following his National Democratic Party," he said referring to Mubarak's now defunct political party.

Analysts tends to see the Muslim Brotherhood, which takes a less strict Islamist line than Salafis, as the best organized group with the broadest national network, built over decades although the group was banned under Mubarak.

Parliament could also end up with a broad range of disparate groups without one current achieving a majority, which might weaken its ability to stand up to the ruling military council that will retain presidential powers, analysts add.

"The ballot box, which liberals and secularists often mention, will be the final arbiter. Let the Egyptian voter choose. Do not impose any guardianship on his mind despite your talk of freedom and democracy," Hamad said.

Al-Nour and other Islamist parties appeal to Egypt's vast population of poor voters through its economic and social network which includes giving food and clothing to the needy.

The party formed a coalition with other Salafi parties Al-Asalah, Al-Fadilah and Al-Islah after breaking away from the Democratic Alliance, a coalition headed by its rival Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party.

Al-Nour says it has around 100,000 members and 150 offices across the nation of 80 million people.

Asked whether his party would impose a strict Islamic moral code on society, Hamad said the party would not act by force but wanted to encourage adherence to its views on personal rights and freedoms. Some of its posters call for women to wear the Islamic hijab, or veil, already worn by most Egyptian women.

"We will not force women to dress a certain way or prevent them from going out to the street. This is all nonsense. There is no coercion in religion," he said, referring to a verse from the Holy Koran banning religious coercion.

"But we seek to clarify what Islam teaches," he said.