The Muslim Brotherhood (MB) opposition movement has not yet reached a final decision on whether or not it would participate in November parliamentary elections, according to group spokesman Mohamed Morsi. “We believe that elections represent the shortest way to reform,” he said. “But elections must be free and fair.” MB Guidance Bureau member Essam al-Erian said the group was discussing recent calls by the National Association for Change--founded by presidential hopeful Mohamed ElBaradei--to boycott the races. “But these calls are not obligatory,” stressed al-Erian. MB parliamentarian Mohamed al-Beltagi, for his part, said that “fielding candidates in the elections was not on the agenda of the Guidance Bureau's last meeting.” In 2005, the Muslim Brotherhood participated in the parliamentary elections and won 88 seats, which made it the largest opposition bloc in the People's Assembly (the lower house of parliament). In related news, the MB has called for the investigation of figures involved in the Madinaty urban development scandal, in which the group says senior officials agreed to sell land to the project owner at fire-sale prices. The group accuses government officials involved in the project of working in the interest of a handful of businessmen at the expense of the general public. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
