CAIRO: State security detained nine members of the Muslim Brotherhood early Monday in Daqahleya as they were campaigning for a parliamentary run-off election. The nine members are Abdul Mohsen Qamhawi, Saad Mahmoud, Gamal Bayoumy, Gamal Aleshry, Mohamed Shaaban, Bakr Fares, Ahmed Mohamed Waley, Mohamed Yusuf and Gamal Aboul Nasr. Some of the detainees are former MPs. They were campaigning for Muslim Brotherhood member Hussein El-Sabea, who ran in the 2005 parliamentary elections raking 36,000 votes in the first round. However, a week before a run-off vote to secure the requisite 50 percent plus one majority, the National Democratic Party's candidates filed a complaint and the elections were canceled in his constituency. Recently, Minister of Interior Habib El-Adly announced that elections to fill this seat are to be held on Feb.10 and the re-run on Feb 17. The group believes that the arrests are related to a campaign rally that was held on Jan. 13, in which members were "promoting and advocating victory for Gaza, as stated on their official website Ikwanweb. Although officially banned, the Muslim Brotherhood enjoys a substantive parliamentary presence after winning a record 88 seats in the 2005 elections, almost fifth of the seats in the People's Assembly. Hussein Ibrahim, head of the MB parliamentary bloc, said, "The PA elections in November 2010 are a priority in the coming period to assert our political presence; we are subjected to many pressures, whether it internally due to the Guidance Office elections, or externally because of the arrest of our members. "We have to get through these tough times to prepare for the PA elections to win an even greater victory - greater than the previous one [in the 2005 elections], he added. Talaat Shinnawy, head of the Brotherhood's Administrative Office in Daqahleya, confirmed that the group will still vie for this seat in People's Assembly. "We are going ahead with the elections no matter what, even though there are only nine months remaining in this PA term, because our aim is not to get the seat but to show that we have a strong presence and we play a vital political role, he explained. The government crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood has intensified with the arrest of many of its members, which has affected their political activity, according to expert on Islamic movements Diaa Rashwan from Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies. In addition, the recent election of new Guidance Office members, the appointment of a new Supreme Guide, Mohamed Badea, and a new secretary general, Mahmoud Hussein, has led analysts to believe that the group is moving towards more conservatism. This could lure the group away from political activism and instead focus on religious and social work, Rashwan explained.
