CAIRO, 27 November 2005 — Several hundred Islamists were rounded up yesterday as Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood accused the state of obstructing the latest round of parliamentary polls and judges rebelled against the regime.
The fourth day of voting in the month-long election was marred by claims of voter intimidation and widespread irregularities.
The opposition Muslim Brotherhood — which achieved spectacular gains in the first rounds of voting — charged that President Hosni Mubarak’s National Democratic Party (NDP) was using police to prevent Islamist supporters from casting their ballots.
“Police are being used by the NDP to obstruct the people’s will,” Brotherhood spokesman Issam Al-Aryan told AFP, adding that some 650 supporters of the movement had been detained since Friday.
The Brotherhood, which is officially banned but tolerated, won 13 seats in the first round last Sunday of the second electoral phase and, with 38 candidates involved in runoffs, was on course to increase its tally of 47.
Voting for parliament began two months after Mubarak swept to a fifth six-year mandate in a September election for which the Brotherhood could not field a candidate.
Its performance in the legislative polls appeared to have caught the government off-guard and surprised observers but it confirmed the Islamist movement’s status as the country’s main opposition force.
After deadly violence broke out last week, more unrest had been expected yesterday.
“The government has sadly confirmed that it will seek to crush in the bud any democratic reform it may have promised,” said Mahmoud Mekki, a prominent judge.
The judges — tasked with supervising the polling process — had demanded the protection of the army after claiming several of them were attacked by NDP thugs, sometimes with the complicity of the police.
They issued a statement yesterday listing the violations committed by the ruling party and the security forces.
