There is a positive side to the Egyptian parliamentary elections, writes Rasha Saad The Muslim Brotherhood has achieved success even they could not have dreamt of," says Karam Gabr in Rose El-Youssef magazine. Among the reasons he identifies for their success is that the National Democratic Party (NDP) has been too pre- occupied in the battle of the old and new guards, the inflated image given the Brotherhood in the media and the weakness of the opposition. But in Sawt Al-Ummah, Ibrahim Eissa says, "No one should demean the will of the people or accuse them of naïveté because of their voting for Brotherhood candidates. Those who claim to believe in democracy and the right of people to choose should consider the results of these elections and not think up excuses as to why the Brotherhood is winning." Eissa suggests the Muslim Brotherhood may have done well because the Egyptian people have watched this group face oppression unsupported by other opposition political parties. In the same issue, Wael El-Ibrashi says the government gave directives to its media to campaign against the Brotherhood. He describes the result as "the stupidest and strangest media campaign against the Muslim Brotherhood. Those involved were like the bear that killed its owner and they provided the Brotherhood with a great service." Detailing the content of the campaign El-Ibrashi noted that the NDP "is leaking comments such as the success of any more Brotherhood candidates might result in a repeat Algeria scenario... They threaten the Brotherhood, saying their attempt to win more seats will result in future security hits and warn people against voting for them saying that their success will push the country into a state of chaos." In Al-Masry Al-Yom on 22 November, Magdi Mehana says, "The solution is not to scare public opinion and the voter about the arrival of political Islam to power... because the voter might reach the conclusion that the arrival of any group to power is better than the rule of the National Party. The solution -- and we say it for the millionth time -- is to stop marginalising the role of the opposition and to truly believe in the principle of peaceful rotation of power." Sahar El-Garah in Al-Masry Al-Yom on 18 November, however, wonders whether the "government will continue to relent under the pressure of the Muslim Brotherhood. Are we before a historic coup d'état where the religious state replaces the programme of political reform?" El-Garah points out, "The nation is being pulled apart by two forces: the ruling party and the Ikhwan or Brotherhood, while the political parties remain satisfied with the crumbs, women and Copts wait for the appointee seats, the newly-born political movement remains a cinema extra and the [intellectual] elite remain professional theorisers." In response to the Brotherhood's successes, Ismail Montasser in October magazine takes moral issue with them. "It is strange and surprising that the (outlawed) Muslim Brotherhood that raises as its slogan 'Islam is the solution' has totally reneged on its slogan as it entered the electoral fray and began to search for a solution to the problem of winning." Montasser accuses the Brotherhood of using large amounts of money to buy votes. And while he acquiesces that other political parties have done the same, he claims that those who raise Islamic slogans should not behave in ways un-religious. "They cannot say as others do, that the end justifies the means." But Osama Saraya in Al-Ahram on 18 November says the elections "reflect the free relationship between the political parties, candidates and voters. It [the first round of elections] is an important leap forward on the road of political reform." In any case, Milad Hana told Al-Arabi, "If the Ikhwan come to power the Copts will leave Egypt." Which brings us back to the "Coptic issue" which was once again at the fore of the press. Mustafa Bakri dedicated the whole of the front page of Al-Osbou' to attacking the conference held this week in Washington and to Saadeddin Ibrahim. He says the latter found the conference an opportunity to "release his hate and poison on Egypt as he spoke of the need to put a limit on the operations of Islamist fundamentalist in luring Christian girls to convert." In Al-Masry Al-Yom, however, Ibrahim wrote, "Political circumstances have changed to the worse and an environment of openness and freedom has been replaced by political oppression, intellectual narrowness, deformed culture and religious fundamentalism. The Copts now feel increasingly alienated in their own country."
