As official campaigning gets under way in what is expected to be the first round of Egypt's presidential elections on 23-24 May, the prospects of maverick Islamist candidate 'Abd al-Mun'im Abu al-Futuh, who quit the Ikhwan al-Muslimin (Muslim Brotherhood) last year to run as an independent,  were given a major boost when the Salafist al-Nour party, whose own candidate was disqualified in April, decided to swing its considerable electoral clout – it won nearly 25% of the vote in last year's parliamentary elections – behind him rather than the Ikhwan's official candidate, Muhammad Mursi. According to Yasur Burhami, a senior member of the religious group the Salafi Call, on 28 April, "the Salafi Call has decided by majority vote to back 'Abd al-Mun'im Abu al-Futuh in the presidential elections. The Nour Party, the political wing of the Salafi Call, has also voted to back al-Futuh." A spokesman for Nour said the next day that "we see him as the most appropriate person for this period. He does not belong to any party and he adheres to principles and the project of Islamic civilization to a great extent. We will only pick someone who is the best for leading Egypt, even if we disagree with him in some ideological matters." Whatever the Salafists' motives and calculations, it looks (in the absence of anything resembling a reliable poll) as if their decision means that the election is now essentially a three man race between Mr Futuh, Mr Mursi and former foreign minister 'Amr Musa, and it is anyone's guess who will go through to the second round run-off – assuming no candidate receives 50% or more of the vote in the first round – in June. In the meantime, it would probably be as well to remember that Egyptian democracy is still very much a work in progress and that the powers of the presidency and its relationship to parliament (not to mention the armed forces) is still being decided by the Ikhwan-dominated committee which is supposed to be writing a new constitution.