CAIRO - The Interior Ministry Monday renewed its warning of standing firmly against candidates running in Egypt's parliamentary polls scheduled for Sunday if they violated legal rules. The warning apparently came in reference to rallies held by the banned Muslim Brotherhood, where religious banners were raised. The Brotherhood, an influential opposition group that gained a fifth of the legislature's seats, five years ago has defiantly said that the security restrictions imposed on its candidates would not stop their “pro-reform plans”. “The police will deal very strictly with rule violations. Therefore, all candidates should stick to the rules,” a security official said . More than 5,000 candidates, including 160 from the Brotherhood, vie for 508 seats in the elections on November 28, as schools nationwide will take the day off. “Early election rigging won't affect the Brotherhood candidates. They will continue to side with the Egyptian people until they restore their rights and freedom,” a statement on the group's website read. It added that the group would continue to hold rallies and hang posters urging voters to support its contenders who raise the “Islam is the Solution” slogan. The statement said that 1,206 members of the Brotherhood, whose candidates run as independents circumventing a ban from 1954, were detained since the group announced on October 9 that it would take part in the vote. “Around 1,206 were detained in 22 governorates. Some 702, including 8 candidates, were ordered to be detained by prosecutors,” it claimed. A security official, meanwhile, said the Islamists had been charged with holding rallies without permission, with being affiliated to a banned group and jeopardising the public security. “In a rally in eastern Cairo's Nasr City, some Islamists stoned policemen, injuring two soldiers as eleven marchers were detained. This behaviour dominates their rallies,” the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, added. He said that the protesters were supporters of two Islamist candidates, who were excluded by the election commission from running. This scene was repeated in Alexandria, Sharqia, and Daqahlia in the Delta and in Fayyoum in southern Egypt where the Muslim Brotherhood said and hundreds were arrested. “The restrictions on candidates are never applied to independent candidates and those from the political parties. They are meant for the Brotherhood only,” Abdel Moneim Abdel Maqsoud, a lawyer for the group said. The fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood is the main rival to the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP). Many people in Egypt fear the contest will witness the widespread violence that plagued the parliamentary elections in 2005, when police and Governmentbacked vigilantes stopped people from casting their votes and clashed with rivals.
