CAIRO: Muslim Brotherhood (MB) leader Mohamed Mahdy Akef warned Egyptian authorities against the possibility of what he called a "public outburst after hundreds of members failed to complete candidate applications for the upcoming local council elections. "Egyptian society is in a state of rage. If the government's policy remain as it is, the situation will only get worse and a revolution will break out. This will destroy everything.it will be even more dangerous than the bread riots of 1977, Akef said at a press conference at the group's Manial headquarters on Saturday March 15. Present at the conference were the Brotherhood's Deputy Leader Mohamed Habib, Secretary General Mahmoud Ezzat and lawyer Abdel Moniem Abdel Maqsoud. Some of the group's candidates who had planned to run in the local council elections also attended, saying they faced discrimination by authorities and were prevented from registering. Akef called on the government to take advantage of these elections to promote real democracy and allow citizens' votes to be the real determinant of the election results. He also called on the public "to participate actively in Egypt's political life. "You should all participate and have a role in changing the current situation not only to get back your rights and freedoms but to have a say in the decisions that affect your lives, he added, addressing society as a whole as opposed to Muslims only. Akef made clear that the Brotherhood will run in the local council elections even though around 90 percent of its potential candidates were prohibited from submitting candidate applications. The deadline was last Thursday. Some of the potential candidates said they were "terrorized while others were "threatened to have court cases filed against them if they ran in the elections. They believe these actions were taken to deter the entire group from participating and not against any of them as individuals. Azza Mohamed, the group's candidate for the Kotor district council in Gharbeya, said 614 out of 741 members were prevented from participating in the elections. She described March 8, the day nominations started, as "a black day for Gharbeya. Mohamed added that during the week preceding the Thursday registration deadline, the official registration offices had turned into "restricted security areas off-limits to MB members. Two weeks ago, the Brotherhood announced their program for the local council elections in which they promised to provide solutions to Egypt's most pressing problems such as bread shortages and unemployment. They also detailed plans for developing sectors like health, education, electricity and transportation.
