Al-Nour Party

Al-Nour Party
حزب النور
ChairpersonYounes Makhioun[1]
Founded12 May 2011 (2011-05-12)
Headquarters601 Horrya Way, Zezenia, Alexandria
NewspaperThe New Light
IdeologySalafism
Islamism
Wahhabism
Madkhalism
Political positionFar-right
Colours    Blue, red, white
SloganIdentity and Modern state
(Arabic: هوية و دولة عصرية)
House of Representatives
7 / 596
Website
www.alnourpartyeg.com

The al‑Nour Party (Arabic: حزب النور, romanized: Ḥizb an-Nūr), or "Party of The Light", was one of the political parties created in Egypt after the 2011 Egyptian Revolution. It has an ultra-conservative, Islamist ideology, which believes in implementing strict Sharia law. It has been described as the political arm of the Salafi Call Society,[2] and "by far the most prominent" of the several new Salafi parties in Egypt,[3] which it has surpassed by virtue of its "long organizational and administrative experience" and "charismatic leaders".[2] Its political aim is to establish a theocratic state on the lines of Wahhabism like in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia was found to be the main financer of the party according to the public German television news service ARD.[4]

In the 2011–12 Egypt parliamentary elections, the Islamist Bloc led by al‑Nour party received 7,534,266 votes out of a total 27,065,135 correct votes (27.8%). The Islamist Bloc, of which al-Nour was a member, gained 127 of the 498 parliamentary seats contested,[3] second-place after the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party. Al‑Nour Party itself won 111 of the Bloc's 127 seats.

In December 2012/January 2013, a new Watan party led by Emad Abdel Ghaffour splintered off from Al-Nour. From January 2013 the party gradually distanced itself from President Mohamed Morsi's Brotherhood government, and came to support the military's July 2013 coup which overthrew Morsi.[5]

By 2020, its support had badly eroded and in September of that year, Al-Nour failed to win any seats in the Egyptian Senate election.[6]

  1. ^ "UPDATED: Egypt's Salafist Nour Party elects new leader". Ahram Online. 9 January 2013. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
  2. ^ a b Omar Ashour (6 January 2012). "The unexpected rise of Salafists has complicated Egyptian politics". The Daily Star. Archived from the original on 23 October 2021. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
  3. ^ a b Jonathan Brown (20 December 2011). "Salafis and Sufis in Egypt". Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
  4. ^ Björn Blaschke: "Ägypten". Archived from the original on 26 January 2012. Retrieved 29 October 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link), Tagesschau, ARD, 23 January 2012. Retrieved 28 October 2017
  5. ^ Patrick Kingsley (7 July 2013). "Egypt's Salafist al-Nour party wields new influence on post-Morsi coalition". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
  6. ^ "Uncertain future for Egypt's Salafists following Senate election defeat". Al Monitor. Retrieved 28 February 2023.