Egypt's Salafists rally behind Morsi A surge of support by ultraconservative Salafist Muslims for Islamist presidential candidate Mohamed Morsi could prove decisive in Egypt's final round of presidential elections this weekend. Faced with a choice between Mr Morsi, leader of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice party, and Ahmed Shafiq, a veteran of deposed president Hosni Mubarak's rule, many Salafists are putting aside long-standing differences with the Brotherhood and lining up behind their fellow Islamist in the June 16-17 vote. "We support Mohamed Morsi because he is the closest to our programme," said Abed Mohammad, a Salafist political party supporter and organiser in Giza province. The Brotherhood is one of us, they have been living with all of us for years. They have been suffering from the regime just like us. Despite the supportive words, Salafists - religious conservatives loosely organised through mosques, religious schools and associations - have long accused the Brotherhood of being a secretive and elitist organisation bent on containing and co-opting their movement. In parliamentary elections late last year the Salafist Nour party and its allies surprised many by winning nearly a quarter of seats. They then rallied around their own presidential candidate, television preacher Hazem Abu Ismail. When he was disqualified from running last April, they endorsed independent candidate Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, who came in fourth in the first round of the vote, rather than lend their support to the Brotherhood's Mr Morsi. A significant number of Salafists also avoided voting, contributing to the 8 per cent drop in voter participation between the parliamentary elections and the first round of the presidential contest. In the second round, however, they are throwing their support behind the Brotherhood, spurred on in part by Mr Shafiq's negative campaigning against Mr Morsi, which has included allegations that the Brotherhood took part in the violent crackdown against protests during the revolution last year. "There is really no need to urge people to vote for Morsi after the ferocious acts we've seen from Shafiq," said Emad Abdul Ghanim, a spokesperson for the Nour party. Mr Shafiq's attempts to portray himself as an observant religious moderate also appear to have angered and mobilised many Salafists. Some criticised him for describing himself as a Sufi, or follower of mystical Islam, which certain Salafists consider heretical. Others mocked him for a television interview in which he purportedly said he woke every day for prayers at 2am, while morning prayers take place at dawn. Salafists are not as disciplined or cohesive a bloc as the Brotherhood. But their backing of Mr Morsi could match strong Coptic Christian and former-regime-insider support for Mr Shafiq. Elections begin on Saturday, after Friday prayers, giving mosque preachers and religious officials - many with ties to Salafist organisations - a last-minute chance to influence their flock before the vote. "I have never told people to vote for a candidate, but now I am telling them to vote for Morsi," said Sabry Ganeen, the administrator of a group of Salafist-leaning mosques in the Imbaba impoverished district of western Cairo. This time the nation is in danger. After largely staying on the political sidelines following the disqualification of Mr Abu Ismail, Salafists joined other pro-revolution activists in massive rallies against Mr Shafiq in Tahrir Square following what many considered a flawed court verdict against Mr Mubarak and top security officials last weekend. "We have two choices: Shafiq, who pretends that the revolution never happened, and Morsi," Abdul Moneim, a 23-year-old religious student affiliated to the Call of Propagation, a Salafi-leaning group. Mr Shafiq's supporters appear to have recognised the threat that a reinvigorated Salafist movement could pose. They have recruited a Salafist cleric, Sheikh Mohamed Saeed Ghaflan, who appears on television stations affiliated to the former regime to urge the pious to support Mr Shafiq. "He is anti-Muslim Brotherhood and the media abuses that and gets him on TV to scare people," said a Nour party official. Additional reporting by Amina Ashraf