Parliamentary candidate and head of pharmacists syndicate in North Sinai, Hossam Refai, has withdrawn from the elections, along with four others in the governorate, after a Nour party candidate was killed Saturday, Ahram Arabic website reported.

Pharmacist and Salafist Nour party's only North Sinai candidate, Mostafa Abdel-Rahman, was shot dead by unknown assailants Saturday while leaving his home in North Sinai’s El-Arish.

El-Arish is allocated two individual seats in the parliament out of five seats for the North Sinai governorate.

Emad El-Balk, Hamada Sinbil, Mohamed Hassanein, and Shehta El-Sayed also withdrew from the race following the killing, said Refai, but the exact reason for their withdrawal was not specified.

Refai also said a meeting will be held to coordinate with other candidates who wish to withdraw in North Sinai.

Nour party, the only Islamist group running for parliament, issued a statement Saturday calling upon officials to quickly investigate and to find the perpetrators.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for Abdel-Rahman's assassination.

Al-Azhar, Egypt's highest Sunni authority, issued a statement Saturday condemning the assassination and saying Egyptians will not surrender to terrorism.

"The Egyptian people will not bow to this cowardly terrorism that targets Egyptians with all their ideologies," the statement read.

“The [Egyptian people’s] will and determination is channeled towards the homeland's civilisation and towards rebuilding the state institutions, which will be completed with the parliament, and their will shall not be broken," the statement read.

Elections for the second electoral stage for 13 governorates including North Sinai are scheduled to take place 22-23 November. The first stage took place 27-28 October and a run-off is due Tuesday and Wednesday.