Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood to Stand in Parliamentary Elections (Hassan)
Monday, October 11, 2010 at 7:50
Amro Hassan reports for the Los Angeles Times:
Nobel Prize winner and reformist leader Mohamed ElBaradei's calls for boycotting parliamentary elections received a major blow Saturday when the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's most important opposition party, announced that it would compete in the November poll.
The Brotherhood's supreme guide, Mohamed Badie, told a news conference Saturday that 98% of the group's Politburo members voted to take part in elections many see as tipped in favor of the ruling National Democratic Party. The decision was another indication of the divisions and squabbles among opposition groups that have been hampered for years by conflicting agendas.
"The Brotherhood will field candidates for third of the People's Assembly's seats. A list of its candidates' names will be released in few weeks' time," Badie said. Despite being politically banned, the Brotherhood, whose members run as independents, is the biggest opposition bloc in parliament with 88 out of 454 seats.
The Brotherhood's decision comes after democracy campaigner ElBaradei called on all opposition forces to snub the elections, saying that taking part will give the ruling regime a legitimacy it doesn't deserve. The former director of the United Nation's nuclear watchdog agency said the elections will be rigged, and that anyone competing in November will be acting against the Egyptian people's will.
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