Egypt’s Salafist party backs al-Sisi reelection

Egypt's largest Salafist party has announced support for incumbent President Adel-Fattah al-Sisi in this year's presidential election.

Al-Sisi "is the best person…to achieve cooperation between state institutions…in a way that realizes stability and spares the country a lot of dangers," Yunis Makhioun, chairman of Al-Nour Party, told a press conference in Cairo on Sunday.

"We announce our support for the president for a second term and we urge the Egyptians to take part in the polls," he said.

Egypt will hold presidential election from March 26 to 28.

Al-Sisi, a former army chief, is the only candidate to have officially registered for the polls.

Last week, the army detained former chief of staff Sami Anan for questioning, shortly after he announced plans to contest the election.

Earlier this month, Ahmed Shafiq, the last prime minister of former President Hosni Mubarak, abruptly announced his withdrawal from the race, saying he was "not the best choice for managing the state's affairs in the upcoming period."

Al-Nour party has 12 seats in the 596-member parliament.

The party also backed al-Sisi during the 2014 election, which was held one year after the military toppled Mohamed Morsi, Egypt's first freely elected president, in a military coup.

Following Morsi's overthrow, Egyptian authorities launched a relentless crackdown on dissent, killing hundreds and detaining thousands of supporters of Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood group.