Interview with Administrative bureau official at Al-Fayoum

As soon as The head of the administrative bureau for Muslim Brotherhood Ahmad Abdel Rahman  declared that the organization would run the Shura elections at the governorate, people started debating about the reasons for MB’s participations under the absence of the judicial supervision on elections and what shall MB members do when counterfeiting in elections is taking place. Many questions are being brought forth before Dr. Ahmad Abdel Rahman in a hot interview.

Many observers believe that your statement about running Shura was a surprise : why did you participate in Shura elections under the ongoing circumstances on political arena in Egypt?

First I would like to welcome you and thank your relentless efforts, I would like to explain MB’s stance  regarding elections. In general, MB participates for participation and positivism as MB participated at the parliamentary elections 2005 and at the elections of vocational syndicates even local elections  they did, so the main goal is participation. Since our existence on political arena in Egypt , we have participate effectively in all occasions starting from 1984, we are running all elections in Egypt because MB is a great organization. That’s why MB should adopt positive participation because people would ask hwy MB are absent.

You appealed to people to boycott referendum on constitutional amendments, and now you are calling them to participate in Shura elections, how do you interpret that?

Our call for boycotting referendum was not a negative conduct however a positive one  because we believed that these amendments will paralyze the political reformation in Egypt that’s why we called all citizens to boycott referendum to embarrass the government and to prove that Egyptian people are not keen for these amendments, because there was a national consensus on the necessity of boycotting the elections from the part  of political powers in Egypt. Regarding Shura elections the regime must be aware the Brothers are present even if they cooked the constitution and laws to expel and exempt them away from the political arena.

Main Opposition parties (Al-Wafd- Al-Nasseri) declared their boycott to participation in these election, so why did you breach this consensus  from the opposition’s parts in elections?

First of all I would like to say that we were from the fist people  who called for forming a national opposition front that should comprise all political parties  and movement and in the parliamentary elections there were quite enough period to carry on an electoral propaganda so that all voters may recognize the program of every candidate and to know his/her belonging and this contradicts the  elections of Shura council where period devoted for electoral propaganda is less than one month despite the fact that the number of electoral constituencies  and the number of voters in these elections  are much greater than that of the parliamentary elections. Moreover the date of elections is not suitable at all because it will take palace while there are exams at the the university and the general secondary certificate, this would have a great impact on the voters turnout on elections.
Despite all these reasons we believe that the voters’ participation  in elections effectively and along with the real censorship of the Non-governmental organizations are the real guarantee for fair elections, this is what we wish to take place in reality.

You have three members in the parliament, Isn’t it sufficient temporarily for this period?

We do not care for the number of members as we care for the serious participation and the transparent censorship on government and on its performance, this what we really lack in the Shura council where the opposition’s voice is low  and the council turned into a  mere governmental body that cooks laws, that’s why we wanted to participate at Shura elections in order to enrich the council with serious debates and accounting beside activating its role in discussing the legislations and censorship on the governmental performance.

Your participation under the constitutional elections which were amended in order to exempt Brotherhood, don’t you see that this is a challenge for the government that may force you to face police crackdown over the organization?

We do not challenge any body through our participation at the elections of Shura council, because it is not from the rhetoric of brotherhood and not even from their principles to confront the government. Mb’s participation should not be viewed as a challenge against the government because this is a genuine constitutional right for Mb and it is not a violation for anything. Regarding the police crackdown over the MB members because we will participate at Shura council elections I ask you, did police crackdown cats ever stopped  against us whether before or after the elections? Even where are these justifications that justify these acts against us whether before or after the elections. Arresting MB members in Egypt comes suddenly exactly like death you can never predict its time or reason, so we will not stop our reforming participation in Egyptian life because of arrests. I think all people know that police crackdown will not affect the stances of Brotherhood and will never affect their decisions or even push them to adopt certain opinion or a stance that contradicts with our morals and principles. Finally, intimidating MB members , arresting them and confiscating their properties is constant feature for confronting comprehensive calls for reformation that calls for change and reformation that would serve in changing the ongoing circumstances.

Do you face any problems in financing the electoral campaign  after the confiscation of the properties and the accounts of the organization and the closing of the companies?

I would like to tell you that the confiscated money and properties and companies belong to individuals at MB but they are not the properties  of the organization itself. Undoubtedly this kind of confiscation affects greatly  the families of these individuals  and affects the rate of employment because many people were working at these companies and now they are suffering unemployment.
From another hand, MB members  depend on individual efforts in spending on electoral campaigns  from the part of members and what they are doing is a kind of volunteering service  for their call and their home.
But you were never keen about Shura elections so why did you participate now?


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