Mass arrests and dramatic scenes of police clashes have placed the Muslim Brotherhood centre stage during the election campaign. Has it been good for them, asks Amira Howeidy The Muslim Brotherhood opted to contest Sunday's parliamentary elections despite calls by some opposition forces to boycott the poll in the absence of guarantees that the vote would be free and fair. And since campaigning began in earnest more than two weeks ago, it is the Brotherhood that has been at the centre of the maelstrom of media interest, both local and international, no mean feat when you consider that the group is fielding 130 candidates compared to the ruling National Democratic Party's 839 and the legal opposition's 300 plus. In the words of Hossam Tammam, an expert on Islamic movements, the MB is providing "the most sensational element in the elections". The Muslim Brotherhood won 88 seats in the 2005 elections, a result that it is striving against all odds to repeat. And part of its strategy to do so is to draw media attention to every obstacle, hurdle and incident of harassment the group has faced in each phase of the electoral process. Its media machine uses video, mobile texting and e-mail announcements to get its message across, disseminating evidence of what it blatantly calls "election rigging", supplemented by a website that is constantly updated, providing information and footage on how the attempts of dozens of Brotherhood members to register as candidates were simply ignored by the Higher Election Committee appointed by President Hosni Mubarak to oversee the elections. Before a series of amendments in 2007 the Egyptian constitution stipulated that elections be held under judicial supervision. Sunday's vote, which will determine the composition of the People's Assembly ahead of next year's presidential poll, will be the first legislative election to be held in the absence of judicial protection which, though flawed -- there are too few judges to man every ballot station -- was nonetheless appreciated by independent and opposition candidates. Elections were also held over three days. Under the constitutional amendments the schedule has now been squeezed into a single day. Both changes, say critics, compromise fairness and transparency. Though the opposition repeatedly demanded better guarantees their calls were ignored by the authorities yet still they chose to participate in the elections. Repeated statements by Minister of State for Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Moufid Shehab that the Brotherhood will lose many of the seats won in 2005 triggered widespread speculation that Sunday's vote would be rigged, either directly of indirectly. The Muslim Brotherhood, says Saber Abul- Fotouh, a leading member of the group, says it is determined to "fight the electoral battle till the last breath". In a press conference packed with media representatives on Monday the Brotherhood provided an exhaustive list of "violations" committed by the security apparatus and other authorities against its candidates and supporters. Three days before the conference an election rally and march held by Brotherhood candidates in Al-Raml district in Alexandria was attacked by security forces who fired rubber bullets and tear gas canisters, some of which affected passersby and apartments overlooking the scene. Images of injured Brotherhood members were immediately circulated on the Internet alongside videos of the clashes. According to the group's lawyer, 1,206 members have been detained in the past week alone, including women. While many of them were subsequently released 702 have been referred to prosecutors. The security apparatus says the MB regularly violates election regulations by using religious slogans, not least "Islam is the solution", the group's motto since 1987. In response the MB said it will continue to do so since no court has judged its slogans illegal or unconstitutional. On Tuesday Saad El-Katatni, spokesman for the Brotherhood's parliamentary bloc who is running in the constituency of Bandar Al-Minya, accused supporters of his rival in the ruling National Democratic Party of attempting to "assassinate" him when his car was attacked by sword-wielding assailants and his driver injured. Photos of his damaged car immediately circulated online and appeared in Wednesday's independent press. Meanwhile, four Brotherhood MPs who were not allowed to register as candidates began a sit-in in the People's Assembly in protest. All four contested the decision and were granted court rulings in their favour which the Higher Election Commission has ignored. Despite the attention the Brotherhood is getting, it is far from clear whether the media focus is in the group's favour. According to political science professor at Cairo University Nadia Mustafa, the MB is gaining public sympathy but "within the limits of its own constituency and their sympathisers". Tammam believes the group is being "driven by the heat of the moment" and the euphoria of their victory in the 2005 elections, hence their determination to fight till the last breath in a spirit of martyrdom. These elections, he says, are possibly their last chance to command a public platform. So is the unfolding electoral battle a good thing for the MB? "I think the authorities scored a point, not the other way round," Tammam told Al-Ahram Weekly. It is the Brotherhood that is lending the elections an aura of political seriousness "which does not really exist given the polls are being conducted in the absence of any meaningful guarantees". It is the Brotherhood's participation, he says, that gives the impression a real election is taking place.
