Salafi Egyptians in Secret Talks with S. Arabia to Occupy More Parliamentary Seats

Secret contacts have been reported between Salafi Egyptian leaders and Saudi officials to pave the ground for the powerful participation of the Salafi stream in the upcoming parliamentary elections in Egypt to win more seats in the assembly.
“Salafi figures are trying to attract the Saudi and other Persian Gulf littoral states’ financial resources to win the largest possible number of parliamentary seats after the collapse of former President Mohammad Mursi,” an informed source close to the Saudi monarchy who called for anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue told FNA on Sunday.

The Salafi groups are also attempting to make the government hold the parliamentary elections sooner than the declared date to seize more seats in the assembly to be able to form the next government, the source added.

Also, other reports said that the former chief of staff of the Egyptian Armed Forces, Sami Anan, has contacted the Saudi officials to win the support of the Salafi and Islamist groups for the next presidential election.

Washington and the US embassy in Cairo have not sit still either and have had extensive contacts with Salafi leaders and al-Nour party after the toppling of Ikhwan al-Muslimun which has raised concerns among the liberal Egyptian groups.

The liberal groups fear that the wave of events will be turned into a Salafi wave in Egypt and the Salafis use it for strengthening and reinvigorating the pillars of their power.

Egypt has been experiencing unrelenting violence since July 3, when the army ousted Mursi’s government, suspended the constitution and dissolved the parliament. It also appointed the head of the Supreme Constitutional Court, Adly Mahmoud Mansour, as the new interim president.

The government of Mansour has launched a bloody crackdown on Mursi supporters and arrested more than 2,000 Muslim Brotherhood members.

About 1,000 people were killed only in a week of violence between Mursi supporters and security forces after police dispersed their protest camps in a deadly operation in mid-August.

The massacre sparked international condemnation and prompted world bodies to call for an independent investigation into the violence.

Following the coup, army officials said Mursi, who took office in June 2012, was being held “preventively” by the military.

However, Mursi said in a letter on November 13 that he was kidnapped by the Republican Guard before the military formally removed him on July 3.

He also declared himself still Egypt’s legitimate leader, describing his overthrow as a military coup and a crime.