El-Erian: National Unity a Prerequisite for the Next Phase

Dr. Essam El-Erian, the Brotherhood’s media spokesman and member of the Executive Bureau, has stressed that the ruling regime practiced a policy of repression, exclusion, violence and bullying against all opposition forces in the 2010 Parliamentary Elections to tighten its grip of power and that it dominates the People’s Assembly, calling on national political powers to unite for change.
 
In Al-Jazeera’s "Behind the News" talk show broadcast yesterday evening, El-Erian explained that the government’s policy of exclusion resulted in the following: First, the opposition was forced to unite against taking over all the seats in parliament and refused to repeat such scenarios in teaching staff clubs and trade unions despite the regime’s efforts to undermine national unity, paralyze their powers and weaken their presence. Second, people must join forces with the national powers.
 
The regime’s practices prevented the opposition from expressing people’s will freely, taking over the reins of power and impeded natural development. "The statements made by the MB Chairman that the Brotherhood would use “peaceful means of dissent” against the parliament, which he said did not reflect the will of Egyptian voters, is a step that includes all the opposition forces to confront the ruling regime," he said.
 
He also stressed that the regime’s grip over the country’s political life makes people question if this is their fate: Why do people not rise up to regain their usurped rights? He noted that the government does not realize how dangerous people’s anger is, based on the repression suffered by the Egyptians for such a long time.
 
He added that de-legitimization of NDP members in parliament must be done through legal means, triggering jurists to rush and annul poll results and encounter the heavy-handed policy formulated by the NDP against all segments of the population, explaining that the opposition forces enjoy widespread popular support.
 
"The MB is working to unify the national forces on common grounds in order to confront policies of fraud, exclusion and domination because the state’s power is not confined to the ruling NDP," said the MB media spokesman, adding: "It our duty, as an integral part of the national fabric, to rid state institutions of the illegal takeover by all means."
 
He explained that the Brotherhood’s leader, Mohammed Badie, did not threaten, but he was talking about the serious consequences of fraud in the recent parliamentary elections and the regime’s tight grip over the People’s Assembly, stressing that if the opposition forgot their differences and agreed with each other, it would be a clear message to the Egyptians and would make them join hands with us and trust us in the face of the country’s rampant corruption.
 
The MB can be representatives of the people but the opposition and the MB can not move to achieve these sublime goals alone because the people must rise up side by side with the opposition.