The Muslim Brotherhood's political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party, has announced it will vie for more than 50 percent of the People's Assembly seats in seeking 25 million votes during the elections scheduled to start on 28 November.
Meeting with new party members in Giza on Friday, deputy chairman Essam al-Erian said 65 percent of Egypt's silent majority supports the Brotherhood, with the rest divided between liberals and secularists.
Meanwhile, Sobhy Saleh, a senior Brotherhood leader and Freedom and Justice candidate in Alexandria, said the party will form the next government and rule Egypt.
"Egypt is an Islamic state, and nothing else," Saleh said on Friday during a conference organized in support of the party's nominees in Alexandria.
"If anybody thinks of excluding or marginalizing the Brotherhood, he will be playing with fire, and if you play with fire you get burned," he said, stressing that his party is a reflection of the Brotherhood itself.
Saleh indirectly attacked Salafi parties, labeling them political novices and saying they will fail to beat the Brotherhood's party.
Meanwhile Wahid Abdel Meguid, chief coordinator of the Brotherhood-led Democratic Alliance, told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the competition between Salafis and the Brotherhood, especially in Alexandria, will shape the future of Islamist movements both in Egypt and the Arab world.
Salafis will have higher ambitions if they achieve a victory, but if they fail, they will go back to their natural position in society, he said.
The Salafi-run Nour and Asala parties, as well as Jama'a al-Islamiya's Construction and Development Party, announced a merger on Saturday, saying that they will form a parliamentary bloc called the Islamic Alliance.
Jama'a al-Islamiya’s media official, Assem Abdel Maged, said that the alliance can win 30 percent of parliamentary seats.
Translated from the Arabic Edition
