ABU HUMMUS, Egypt — The head of the Salafist Al-Nour Party, Younes Makhioun, warned against what he described as deviations in the road map developed by the military council in Egypt under the leadership of Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in the aftermath of June 30.

In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor in the garden of his rural home, Makhioun confirmed that these deviations threaten the success of the road map and go beyond the transitional phase. He accused the current regime in Egypt and the civil forces led by the National Salvation Front (NSF) of practicing a policy of exclusion against the Islamist movements, and of committing the same mistakes as the previous regime and Mohammed Morsi.

Makhioun, who announced that his party will not field any candidate in the next presidential elections, revealed to Al-Monitor that his party does not mind supporting a candidate with a military background for the presidential elections, provided that this candidate has ended his military service.

Makhioun said that any Islamist candidate who would run for the presidential elections has weak chances and is doomed to failure. He stressed that his party will run in the next parliamentary elections alone, without any alliances with civil forces or Islamist movements.