Egypt's Nour Party fears army return to politics

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's second-largest Islamist party said on Monday it feared the army's return to public life "in a big way" after the military gave politicians 48 hours to resolve the country's political crisis.

The Nour Party believed Egypt's national security was threatened by the division between the ruling Islamists and their opponents, Khaled Alam Eddin told the website of the Al-Ahram newspaper. "But we have fears about a return of the army once again in the picture in a big way," he said.

The party, which has called for dialogue before, later issued a statement on its Facebook page calling on the president to set a date for early presidential elections - one of the main demands of the protesters.

It also called for the formation of a "neutral, technocratic government".

In an earlier statement it called on President Mohamed Mursi to take the "number and diversity" of the demonstrators into consideration and "realise the Egyptian people have legitimate demands that must be answered."

Although it said there were "forces with private agendas" adopting violent tactics, that did not prejudice the demands of the people, which the government and opposition should "place at the top of their political visions".

The party said it was waiting for "bold, practical and rapid steps to heal the rift" and that it was ready to participate in any solution that met public approval.

(Reporting by Tom Perry and Yasmine Saleh; Editing by Alastair Macdonald and Lisa Shumaker)