CAIRO, 19 October 2005 — Egyptian authorities are giving the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood unusual leeway in the run-up to parliamentary elections, in what the opposition group says is an attempt to enhance the vote’s credibility. Brotherhood activists were arrested and their supporters blocked from voting in Egypt’s last parliamentary elections in 1995 and 2000.
Brotherhood members, who stand as independents, still won 17 seats, making them the biggest opposition bloc. But with a few weeks to go before the elections begin in November, the authorities are releasing instead of arresting Brotherhood activists and the group’s candidates have been allowed to register for the vote largely unimpeded.
Two of the main state newspapers have also published interviews with Brotherhood leaders in the last two weeks. Al-Ahram daily yesterday printed what the Brotherhood said was the first full-length interview in living memory with their leader in the state-owned paper. “There is the start of a change which I feel as a man who has been exposed to oppression. I now feel that the treatment is better and I pray to God that it will continue in this way,” Brotherhood leader Mohamed Mahdi Akef told the paper.
Leading Brotherhood activist Essam El-Erian was released from prison this week. He was one of the last of hundreds of Brotherhood activists still jailed from May, when the group held protests demanding greater political freedoms.
Deputy Brotherhood leader Mohamed Habib told Reuters the release of Erian and coverage of the group by Al-Ahram were part of government efforts to project the image of greater political tolerance ahead of the election. “This is natural and logical in view of the political movement going on in Egypt — that the regime would want to improve its image — especially as it is approaching parliamentary elections,” he said.
Habib has also said foreign calls for political reform in Egypt, which held its first multicandidate presidential election in September, have made it tougher for the government to put pressure on the opposition before the elections. Habib said most of the Brotherhood’s candidates had been able to submit their applications for candidacy without a problem. “People are conducting their electoral campaign without anyone opposing them,” he said.
In a free and fair election, the Brotherhood has said it could win at least 110 to 120 of the 444 elected seats in Parliament, which is dominated by President Hosni Mubarak’s ruling National Democratic Party. But in anticipation of some violations, Brotherhood leaders say they expect to win between 50 and 60 seats this time. The movement is fielding some 150 candidates.
The Brotherhood’s decision to contest only one-third of the seats could partly explain the authorities’ softer approach, said political analyst Mohamed El-Sayed Said.
