CAIRO: Egypt's powerful Muslim Brotherhood, set to take the largest constituency of votes in Monday's parliamentary elections, have distanced themselves from the ongoing anti-military protests in Cairo's Tahrir Square. The Brotherhood has chosen instead to focus on a call for elections to take place as scheduled, as their affiliated Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) are considered the best-organized political force in the country to date, with a massive grassroots capacity. “Elections are part of the solution, not the problem,” read a Tweet from the Muslim Brotherhood's official account @ikhwanweb on Wednesday. “Our determination that elections shall be held on time is not out of a desire to win seats in parliament – all this is up in the air – but in order to start democratic steps for the establishment of state institutions,” the group said in an official statement published Thursday morning. Set to sweep at least one third of seats in the scheduled elections according to most estimates, the Brotherhood does not want to see any obstacles in the way of the scheduled parliamentary vote, fearing that other parties may take the time of unrest to secure more votes. However, those in Tahrir report overwhelmingly that they will not acknowledge the legitimacy of elections designed and monitored by the interim ruling military council, and intend to boycott the vote. The Brotherhood has called the uprisings a “perilous plot,” set to “further delay the handover of power from the military to an elected civilian authority.” “Our assessment of the situation is that there is a plot to cause chaos and use it as an excuse to deprive the people of the benefits of democracy. We, therefore, decided to persist in endeavors to complete the democratic process,” the statement continues. The Brotherhood has condemned the heinous violence and “brutal attacks by security and military police forces on the protesters,” calling upon police and the army to respect the constitutional right of people to demonstrate publicly. The Brotherhood, once banned under the regime of former President Hosni Mubarak, was forced to run candidates on an independent ticket for decades. In a national referendum vote last spring, Islamists in Egypt preserved Article 2 of Egypt's constitution, which makes Islam the national religion of the state, securing Islamic Shariah law as the source of inspiration for Egypt's governance. BM
