Cairo: The leader of Egypt's largest Islamist ultraconservative party on Wednesday announced he is forming a new political party, splitting from the Salafi Al-Nour party, which has emerged as the country's second strongest political group.
Al-Nour has been locked in an internal power struggle since October with its leaders disagreeing over the role of a body of clerics in the party's politics.
Emad Abdel-Ghaffour, who headed al-Nour, said that he is forming the Al-Watan (Homeland) party and "opening a new page".
Abdel-Ghaffour, also a presidential adviser, has been advocating separation of the party from the Salafi clerical body which backed its creation. He has the support of key Salafi clerics and politicians.
The Salafis are more conservative than the dominant fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood of President Mohammed Morsi.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, January 02, 2013, 12:29