CAIRO - Egypt's biggest opposition group, the banned Muslim Brotherhood, could field up to 200 candidates in this year's parliamentary election, close to the number it backed last time when it won a fifth of the seats, a senior member told Reuters. Essam el-Erian would not say how many seats the group expected to win in the race for the 518-seat assembly, but the Brotherhood has previously said it would struggle to repeat its 2005 performance. The authorities are wary of any group with Islamist leanings and have steadily sqeezed the Brotherhood, which is officially banned, out of mainstream politics. They have often detained senior figures, including Erian who was held earlier this year. "The Brotherhood is likely to participate in the parliament elections with the same number of candidates as in previous ones," Erian said, adding that he expected "somewhere around 190 to 200" Brotherhood members to stand. In 2005, the Brotherhood fielded 165 candidates and secured 88 of the lower house of parliament's 454 seats, which rises to 518 this year when new seats for women are added. Since 2005, it has not won any seats in upper house or local council votes. The Brotherhood, which built support through health, social and other projects, runs candidates as independents to skirt the ban. It is the only group with a network to rally thousands of disciplined supporters against the state but usually avoids such confrontation for fear of a heavier crackdown, analysts say. Erian said running candidates would highlight the agenda for political change, however many seats the group won. "The issue is not the Brotherhood securing a seat or five or even a hundred seats or however many in parliamentary elections," he said. "In Egypt we know that the road to power is blocked and therefore our aims are long term. We focus on galvanising the public and joining other political forces in demanding reform." The group is now part of a campaign led by potential presidential candidate Mohamed ElBaradei to gather signatures to press for changing a constitution that analysts say stacks the cards in favour of President Hosni Mubarak's ruling party. Erian said the group had collected more than 30,000 signatures since beginning the drive last week, on top of more than 70,000 already collected online by ElBaradei's coalition for change. Erian said opposition parties, as well as the Brotherhood, had discussed an election boycott after the upper house vote in May, in which Mubarak's ruling party swept most seats amid rights groups' complaints of abuses. The government insists the electoral process is fair. "So far none of the opposition parties agree. All eyes have been on the Wafd Party and it recently announced it would participate in the elections. A boycott is only possible if the opposition is united," Erian said. The Wafd, a nationalist, liberal-leaning group, is one of several officially recognised parties. But analysts say recognised opposition parties are fractured, have limited popularity and have mostly been co-opted by the state through concessions such as offering some a few seats in the upper house that are appointed by the president. The Brotherhood long ago renounced violence as a means to achieve political change in Egypt and has said it wants to create a democracy based on Islamic principles.
