Muslim Brotherhood Expects to Win Substantial Control in Egypt’s Parliamentary Elections
- Posted on November 28, 2011 at 7:39am by
Billy Hallowell
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Egyptian women wait at a polling station to vote in the country's parliamentary election in the Zamalek neighbourhood of Cairo, Egypt, Monday, Nov. 28, 2011. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
CAIRO (AP) — Shaking off years of political apathy, Egyptians turned out in long lines at voting stations Monday in their nation‘s first parliamentary elections since Hosni Mubarak’s ouster, a giant step toward what they hope will be a democracy after decades of dictatorship.
The landmark election has already been overshadowed by turmoil in the streets over the past week, and the population is sharply polarized and confused over the nation’s direction. Still, the vote promises to be the fairest and cleanest election in Egypt in living memory.
The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s largest and best organized group, along with its Islamist allies are expected to do well in the vote, which has been a source of concern for secular and liberal Egyptians who fear the Brotherhood will try to implement a strict version of Islamic law in the country.
Early in the day, voters stood in lines stretching several hundred yards outside some polling centers in Cairo well before they opened at 8 a.m. local time (0600GMT), suggesting a respectable turnout. Many said they were voting for the first time, a sign of an enthusiasm that in this election one’s vote mattered.
For decades, few Egyptians bothered to cast ballots because nearly every election was rigged in favor of Mubarak’s ruling party, whether through bribery, ballot box stuffing or intimidation by police at the polls. Turnout was often in the single digits.
“I am voting for freedom. We lived in slavery. Now we want justice in freedom,” said 50-year-old Iris Nawar as she was about to vote in the district of Maadi, a Cairo suburb.
“We are afraid of the Muslim Brotherhood. But we lived for 30 years under Mubarak, we will live with them, too,” said Nawar, a first-time voter.
Muslim Brotherhood volunteers assist local residents in finding their polling stations in Assuit, Egypt on Sunday. (AP)
The Brotherhood entered the campaign armed with a powerful network of activists around the country and years of experience in political activity, even though it was banned under Mubarak’s regime. Love them or hate them, Egyptians know them. That gave them what many see as an automatic leg up over liberal, leftist and secular parties, most of which are newly created after the Feb. 11 fall of Mubarak, are not widely known among the public and were plagued by divisions through the past months.
But also weighing heavily on voters’ mind was the question of whether this election will really set Egypt on a path of democracy amid the stormy politics of the past months under the rule of the military, which took power after Mubarak’s fall.
The election was shaken by explosive protests the past 10 days by crowds demanding that the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, headed by Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, hand over power to a civilian government. There has been growing anger against the council, accused of bungling the transition, acting in the same authoritarian way as Mubarak and failing to uproot the remnants of his regime. Some fear it intends to hold on to power, though it has promised to step aside at the end of June.
Some hoped their vote would help eventually push the generals out.
Egyptian women wait to cast their vote outside a polling station in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, Nov. 28, 2011. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
“We are fed up with the military,” said Salah Radwan, waiting outside a polling center in Cairo’s middle-class Abdeen neighborhood. “They should go to protect our borders and leave us to rule ourselves. Even if we don’t get it right this time, we will get it right next time.”
On Monday morning in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the center of the original uprising, a relatively small crowd of a few thousand remained to keep the round-the-clock protests going. Clashes during the protests have left more than 40 dead have heightened fears of violence at polling stations.
The generals decided to forge ahead with the election despite the unrest. But the political crisis has cast doubt on the legitimacy of the vote, potentially rendering the parliament that emerges irrelevant.
In the Mediterranean coastal city of Alexandria, thousands of voters braved rain and strong winds to go to the polls. Long lines formed outside polling centers, with voters huddling under umbrellas. At one polling center in the Raml neighborhood, around a half dozen army soldiers stood guard by the ballot boxes inside.
“Choose freely, choose whomever you want to vote for,” said one soldier, using a microphone.
By late morning Monday, there were no reports of foul play or violence.
An Egyptian Army soldier stands guard as voters wait outside a polling center in Assuit, 320 kilometers (200 miles) south of Cairo, Egypt, Monday, Nov. 28, 2011. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
Alexandria is a stronghold of the Brotherhood and many voters said they would vote for the group, which spent some six decades as an outlawed organization before it became legal following Mubarak’s ouster.
“The Muslim Brotherhood are the people who have stood by us when times were difficult,” said Ragya el-Said, a 47-year-old lawyer. “We have a lot of confidence in them.”
The Brotherhood is facing competition on the religious vote, however, particularly from the even more conservative Salafi movement, which advocates a hard-line Saudi Arabian-style interpretation of Islam. While the Brotherhood shows at times a willingness to play politics and compromise in its ideology, many Salafis make no bones about saying democracy must take a back seat to Islamic law.
For many of those who did not want to vote for the Brotherhood or other Islamists, the alternative was not clear amid the mix of nonreligious parties.
An Egyptian woman votes inside a polling station in Assuit, Egypt. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
“I don‘t know any of the parties or who I’m voting for,” she said. “I’ll vote for the first names I see I guess,” said Teresa Sobhi, a Christian voter in the southern city of Assiut. Still, she said, “there may be hope for Egypt at last, to build it from scratch.”
The region is a bastion of Islamists, but also has a significant Christian population.
Across the city in the Walidiya district, teenager Ahmed Gamal was handing flyers urging voters to support the Nour Party of the Salafis.
“We used to be arrested by police under Mubarak for just going to the mosque. Our Nour party will now implement Islamic laws,” he enthused as he handed the flyers to voters waiting in line – a violation of rules barring campaigning at polling centers.
Back in Cairo, Shahira Ahmed, 45, was in line with her husband and daughter along with some 500 voters outside a polling station in a school in the upscale neighborhood of Zamalek. She said she was hoping liberals can at least establish some presence in parliament – “to have a liberal and a civilized country, I mean no fanatics.”
And, like many, she was still not sure whether democracy was really on the horizon.
“I never voted because I was never sure it was for real. This time, I hope it is, but I am not positive.”
A protester wearing the Egyptian flag stands beneath a banner reading,"the street of free eyes," that hangs over a street where many protesters lost their eyes during clashes near Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Nov. 27, 2011. The placard in his hands reads, in Arabic, "for the sake of peace, justice shall be allowed." (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Not only was there confusion over the candidates, but the election system is unweildy and muddled, stretched out in multiple stages.
The election that began Monday is for the 498-seat People’s Assembly, parliament’s lower chamber, will be held in three stages, with different parts of the country taking turns to vote each time. Monday‘s vote was taking place in nine provinces whose residents account for 24 million of Egypt’s estimated 85 million people. Most prominent of the nine provinces are Cairo and Alexandria, Egypt’s second largest city.
The election for the lower house ends in January. Then the whole process begins again to elect the 390-seat upper chamber, also in three stages, to conclude in March.
Run-off elections for all six stages will take place a week after each of the six rounds. Voting in each stage has been extended by one extra day, a decision made by the military to boost the turnout.
Predicting this election has been extremely difficult simply because the fall of Mubarak makes it difficult to use past elections as a guide. The last parliamentary vote held under Mubarak, in November and December last year, was heavily rigged and Mubarak’s then-ruling party won all but a handful of seats.
The Brotherhood, which used to run its candidates as independents because of the official ban on the group, made its strongest showing in elections in 2005, when it won 20 percent of parliament’s seats. Its leaders have predicted that in this vote it could win up to 40 or 50 percent.
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Comments (56)
SurhanSurhan
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 1:58pmWith any Democracy or Republic the people have a right of self determination, (stated differently) they have the right to determine who their leaders are. Sometimes they will elect people that are not as friendly as we would like them to be. But that’s called democracy! And if the Muslim-Brotherhood get the majority of votes, well, then, the US will have to grin and bear it until the next election to see if they are voted out of power. The US can also chose to cut off aide to Egypt, which is what they should do if the MB are elected.
Report Post »Raisingmy3boysright
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 1:16pmWait, that last video does it say “Hijacked Revolt”? HA! That is a western term NOT a middle eastern term! So they are trying to say that Muslim Brotherhood has hijacked their “revolution”? How stupid do they think we really are?? Politicians and news media are that dumb to believe it, but thank goodness some of us are way smarter than that! ALL of these revolts have Muslim Brotherhood written all over it!
Report Post »Raisingmy3boysright
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 1:12pmNot just Egypt! They will hold power over Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, Turkey, Kuwait, Syria, Iraq, And the list goes on. They WILL have power over the entire Middle East. This is their goal….
Report Post »Kiba
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 12:58pmAnother fine mess you have gotten us into Barak!
Report Post »Joyce D
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 12:14pmThat was an excellent report about the election in Egypt, and I don’t know how anyone can read it and not feel themselves pulling for Muslin Brotherhood Candidates. They are called the Truth and Justice Party.
Report Post »AlJazeera had a great interview with their leader. He will work for peace and harmony with Israel.
Anyone who wants in depth analysis should visit the AlJazeera site and read the article called “Infographic:Egypt elections explained.
tbl10
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 1:50pmTruth and Justice party, are you serious, kinda reminds me of Hope and Change. How has that worked out for us. I bet those women waiting in line to vote will just love when the Muslim Brotherhood wins and installs Sharia Law, they will have no voice and will be nothing but slaves to their masters.
Report Post »barber2
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 11:33amI remember the joyous Democrats exclaiming the “democracy” of the Arab Spring. What a bunch of delusional idiots. The same idiots who are now bringing us the tax payers’ endless- nightmare -expense of the Occupies. Yes. Obama has created lots of jobs: mostly cops being paid at tax payers’ expense to control these American anarchists who are also examples of this phony “ democratic” movement known as the Occupiers. They are as much like the Tea Party as day is to night BUT we are hearing the NEW Big Lie to follow the old “99%” baloney: that the Occupiers are “just like the Tea Party.” BALONEY …. The core group of the Occupiers are STRICTLY anti-capitalist / anarchists bent on destroying our current “system” WAKE UP, AMERICA : YOU ARE BEING SCAMED BIG TIME.
Report Post »REPUB1
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 11:17am“Muslim Brotherhood volunteers assist local residents in finding their polling stations in Assuit” fair and balanced??? elections
Report Post »Detroit paperboy
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 11:16amWhy do muslim crowds always look so smelly??? Must be the camera lense…
Report Post »NILAP
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 11:08amFinally with the Musllim Brotherhood gaining power, women in Egypt will have full rights and will be able to lift off their veils. The will be treated far better than how those Christians in the U.S. treat their women. That is what all liberal women commentators in the media are telling us and they would never lie.
Report Post »REPUB1
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 11:21amNILAP
Report Post »“The will be treated far better than how those Christians in the U.S. treat their women” just how do Christians treat their women worse than muslims??
heartitorleaveit
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 10:53amIm sure the ladies in Egypt are very exited about there new freedoms under sharia law!
Report Post »Sibyl
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 10:27amMuslim Brotherhood = Islam + Saul Alinsky
Report Post »Detroit paperboy
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 11:09amMuzlim brotherhood is in the white house…. Til 2012 anyway.
Report Post »paleoman
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 10:20am2012, hope your ready, wont be long now. Don’t eat the muslim stew.
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 9:55amNice work Obama.
Report Post »mike_trivisonno
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 9:29amAs unrest and turmoil in The House of Islam increases, remember that it all part of the US policy GITMO.
GITMO is a policy not a place. And the low cultures of the Islamic Empire will feel pain like they have never felt before. Compliments of Uncle Same.
Muslims are such tools.
Report Post »SurhanSurhan
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 9:23amWhy is it so important to Christians that Muslim women not cover up? Mary, the mother of Jesus covered up. Nuns cover up. Mother Teresa covered up. Strike that question, I know why it’s important, Christian men want to lust after Muslim women like they did that Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader. It benefits the male for her not to cover up. Christian women, wake up, take your self respect back, follow the example of Mary, the mother of Jesus and Mother Teresa, cover up. Your Christian brothers want to lust after you without having to answer to their wife.
Report Post »JLGunner
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 9:58amNow that was really rediculous. I’ve seen some really dumb posts, but this one takes the prize.
Report Post »kcares
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 10:22amHow about women in the USA just waking up and realizing that they are being used. They don’t have to totally cover up, just put on some clothes and quit the free sexual advertising that is only going to get them used.
Report Post »mike_trivisonno
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 10:28amThis is just another attempt to falsely link Islam and Allah with Christianity and God.
The muslim deceives at every level at all times.
The depiction of the human form is forbidden by Islam. It is forbidden because Islam is anti-human.
Germans swallowed every single lie told to them by the muslims, and now they have two choices:
Report Post »1) Submit to Allah, accept Islam and it inventor, Mohammed.
2) War agains the muslims, drive them from your land, and return to the West.
heartitorleaveit
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 10:52amsirhan, why do YOU c.a.i.r about what christians think? if allah is god, doesnt he know that satin is from the jinn? may the fleas of a thousand camels infest your armpits sirhan!
Report Post »Citizen
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 11:04amI think modesty is a great thing, too bad your idol uses it to control women.
I wonder about the education level of muslims around the world. I think in many of these poor downtrodden countries they just prey on the poor. Sad but thats human nature.
Report Post »SurhanSurhan
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 12:06pm@ JLGUNNER- It hits too close to home. You are the person I was talking about. You want to look at scantily clad women.
Report Post »Dismayed Veteran
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 12:08pmI have been married to a feisty woman of Italian descent. If I told her to wear a burka, I would be wearing a frying pan.
Report Post »SurhanSurhan
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 1:36pm@ DISMAYED VETERAN- You shouldn’t be telling a grown woman what to wear, and if you do, you deserve to be hit with a frying pan. Muslim women dress that way because Mary, the mother of Jesus dressed that way. Allah rewards women that dress modestly. She does it, and Mary did it for the blessing they will get from Him. If a woman is forced to wear a burqa but she doesn’t feel it in heart she will not receive her blessing. It’s that simple.
Report Post »Blackhawk1
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 4:35pmSurhanSurhan
You sure are either misinformed or just plain stupid. Muslim women are the property of the Muslim men and the men tell them to cover up so no other man can see what they look like so as not to steal another’s property. Have you ever been to a Muslim crap hole country or are you believing liberal lies? In Islamic countries the men do not work, the women do because they are enslaved.
Report Post »Carter John
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 4:57pmSince you are such a proponent of Islam tell me. Who is it that stated that an uncovered woman is like rotting meat?
Report Post »Dismayed Veteran
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 4:59pmSurhan
I was on a flight from New York to Mardrid. I was in business class. Across the asile were two very beautiful women who looked like mother and daughter. About 1 hour from Madrid, they got up and went to the restroom. When they came out, they where dressed in the burka with full face cover.
Not being totally stupid, I figured out they would rather be in western clothing rather than islamic clothing. It also appeared that they had no choice once they exited the plane.
Report Post »SurhanSurhan
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 8:25pm@ DISMAYED VETERAN, BLACKHAWK1 WHAT ABOUT MUSLIM WOMEN?
Islam sees a woman, whether single or married, as an individual in her own right, with the right to own and dispose of her property and earnings. A marriage dowry is given by the groom to the bridge for her own personal use, and she keeps her own family name rather than taking her husband’s. Both men and women are expected to dress in a way which is modest and dignified; the traditions of female dress found in some Muslim countries are often the expression of local customs. The Messenger of God said:
“The most perfect in faith amongst believers is he who is best in manner and kindest to his wife.”
Report Post »MidWestMom
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 9:01amOut of the frying pan into the fire…
Report Post »ares338
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 9:00amAll women put on you Burqas NOW…..Alley Oop Snackbar!!!!
Report Post »scuba13
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 10:02amTime to start my new burka clothing line, Because look at all of the new customers i am going to have.
Report Post »hi
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 8:52amThose women should be running and trying to escape, not voting.
Report Post »lel2007
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 8:41amThe Muslim Brotherhood and its Islamist allies expected to do well in the vote ! Now there’s a shocker for ya. Who would-a ever thought. I’m sure the majority of Egyptians will live in peace and happiness under their newly freed nation.
Report Post »smithclar3nc3
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 8:59amMy thoughts exactly…wow who have ever saw that coming a mile away…..Oh yeah that’s right Glenn Beck did show after show on that exact thing. But of course what did he know he just used common sense and history the formulate what he saw it egypt’s future. He didn’t use the Obama hopey changey formula that requires no for thought or intellual input.
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 8:17amAnd now the natural order of things with the radicals will set in:
A. Destabalize the new government to take it over from within.
B. Implementation of Sharia Law.
C. Disposal of all enemies to radcial and extremist Islam.
D. Caliphate is one step closer.
Watch and be warned, do not be shocked if in a few months a new call will emerge for the joining of the new govt’s of Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Morocco into a “greater Islamic confederation” or such called the “Caliphate.”
Report Post »dsind
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 10:18amKinda like another dictatorship just like the old dictatorship,
Report Post »but with many leaders, like Iran gvt‘s supreme Iatolla’s,
……..beating, whipping, stoning, beheading Oh My!
This is what Muslim freedom is.
OutOfTheAether
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 10:55amYup, my thoughts exactly.
Report Post »Mandors
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 8:07amAnd the national oppression of women and Christians will begin in 10… 9… 8…
Report Post »Striker
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 8:06amI hope for their sake they choose wisely because if they do not …this may be their last election.
Report Post »SpankDaMonkey
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 8:02am.
Ya’ll are gonna get Stoned, Ya’ll are gonna get Stoned, Ya’ll are gonna get Stoned…..
Just opened SpankDaMonkey‘s first Rock Chunk’in Emporium franchise in Cairo. I should make a kill’in…..
Report Post »Striker
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 8:07amThat is funny !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Report Post »Susie
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 7:59amThere seems to be a misconception that there are degrees of Islam. There is not. Once Islam moves in extremism is assured. So another country falls to Islam. Cherish those pictures of bare-headed Egyptian women at the voting polls, because this may be the last time you see either their hair or their faces anywhere again.
Report Post »barber2
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 11:34amYes. As the PM of Turkey has said : “There is no such thing as moderate Islam. Islam is Islam.”
Report Post »paulusmaximus
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 7:44amSurprise, Surprise!! Didn’t need to read the story could have written it with a blind fold.
Report Post »Stoic one
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 10:08amyou are correct
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