CAIRO: Muslim Brotherhood MPs in Qaliubiya's Qanater district said they will not participate in a redo of the 2005 parliamentary elections set to take place next week. The group will, however, participate in the upcoming 2010 parliamentary elections, according to Hussein Ibrahim, head of the MB's parliamentary bloc. There has been speculation recently surrounding the Brotherhood's participation in the upcoming parliamentary elections, with reports claiming that the group may be in negotiations with the ruling National Democratic Party to pull out of the elections in exchange for the release of detained members - which the group has repeatedly denied. Their decision not to participate in the Qanater elections redo is another issue, Ibrahim said, adding that it's a statement against "the illegal cancellation of the first round of elections in Qanater that took place in 2005. Last week, Minister of Interior Habib El-Adly set the date for the elections do-over - to take place next week - in districts where results of the first round in 2005 were invalidated. These districts, including Qanater, have not had a parliamentary representative. "The sudden cancellation of elections in the district in 2005 and now suddenly allowing them to continue on very short notice is enough of an indication that the government will not allow us to win, Ibrahim said. National Democratic Party MP Mohamed Khalil Kwaitah told Daily News Egypt that the interior ministry's decision is routine, adding that Qanater was one of the districts where the 2005 election results were contested. The same happened in Aga district in Daqahleya, which will also hold a redo of the previous parliamentary elections. According to Ibrahim, MB's representative in Qanater, Naser Al-Hafey, garnered 30,000 votes in the 2005 parliamentary elections versus only 12,000 for the NDP candidate in the same area - claiming that this is the reason the government decided to annul the election results. "The MB stepping down from the [second round of] Qanater elections is a form of protest against the government's illegal decisions, Ibrahim said. Kwaitah insists, however, that the procedure is constitutional. "When elections results are contested in front of a court of law, the Ministry of Interior is obligated to cancel the first results and wait for the court's verdict before allowing elections to continue, Kwaitah said. For his part, Al-Hafey said the MB refuses to participate in "fake elections that were prevented from taking place at the appropriate time. Holding an election redo now, with only one year left in this parliamentary term, is "pointless, he said, adding that his voters support the group's decision not to participate. "This withdrawal does not mean that the MB is leaving the battle, rather it is a statement of our objection to the violations committed by the [current] system against Egyptian citizens and their constitutional rights, he said. Al-Hafey confirmed that he will run in the 2010 parliamentary elections and has already posted his program on the MB's website. Egyptian security officials detained Sunday seven deputy leaders from the MB group in Alexandria, an MB statement said, including Nasr Kamal, Tawkol Masoud, Mohamed Ahmed Rafay, Ahmed Abdel Ateay, Mamdouh Hussein Abdel Aal, Abdel Ghafar Ahmed Abdel Ghafar and Mohamed Amin. According to a statement by security forces, the arrested members are accused of promoting ideologies that threaten national security.
