THE banned Muslim Brotherhood announced on Wednesday it would field candidates for 20 per cent of the Shura Council (the Upper House of the Egyptian Parliament) seats in the mid-term elections due in June, a spokesman for the group said. "The Brotherhood decided to participate in the Shura Council election for 20 per cent of the seats. This comes in light of the group's policy to actively take part in political life," added the group's spokesman Saad el-Katatni. However, he added that the group had not yet decided either the constituencies or the candidates who would contest the elections. The candidates affiliated to the Muslim Brotherhood, banned since 1954, run as Egyptian law does not allow political activities on religious grounds. "The parliamentary elections are very important at this stage. Therefore, we have had to scrutinise the decision concerning the participation very carefully," el-Katatni, also the head of the group's parliamentary bloc, told The Egyptian Gazette. He added that the Shura Council elections would provide a good experience ahead of the legislative vote, which would be held in November. Abdel-Moneim Abul Fotouh, a senior member of the group, has proposed that the Muslim Brotherhood should freeze its political activity and never run in elections. "In order for the Government to stop persecuting the members, the political activity should be frozen," elaborated Abul Fotouh, who has been recently released from prison.
