CAIRO: Egypt s banned Islamist opposition Muslim Brotherhood said on Sunday comments by the prime minister about preventing its members from standing in future elections proved the government was not committed to reform. The group, which won a fifth of parliament s seats in elections last year, would attract more support from Egyptians if the government resorted to repressive measures to keep its members out of parliament, deputy leader Mohammed Habib added. It is obvious that the government does not have any real desire or serious intention towards reform. This is obvious by the way it wants to silence opposition voices, Habib told Reuters. Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif said on Saturday the Egyptian government wants to prevent the Muslim Brotherhood forming an opposition parliamentary group by winning seats as independents in future elections. The Brotherhood is not allowed to form a political party and thus cannot officially field candidates in elections because Egypt s constitution forbids the establishment of religiously-based parties. The group says it won seats despite official election abuses. Nazif s remarks were another indication the government is having second thoughts about some concessions it made to the political opposition last year when it was under U.S. pressure to bring about political reforms. Habib said the government would probably use arrests and military trials to prevent the formation of another Brotherhood-based opposition bloc inside parliament, where secular opposition parties hold only nine seats out of 444. If they use repressive methods, and that is what is expected ... then it will only result in more sympathy and support for them (the Brotherhood) from the Egyptian people, he said. The Brotherhood bloc in parliament has called for, and been denied, official enquiries into police beating of demonstrators during recent protests and over a conflict between judges and the government over judicial independence. The authorities have detained 314 Brotherhood members for 15 days pending investigations after demonstrations last week in support of the judges. They (government officials) want to suppress the political movement to set the stage for an idea that is already rejected by the Egyptian people, that of inheritance, he said. Habib was referring to a complaint by opposition groups that President Hosni Mubarak is grooming his son Gamal, a prominent member of the ruling party, to take over after him.
