Habib: Election Rigging Expected To Reach 99-100%

The Higher Election Committee closed on Sunday evening May, 20, 2007,  nominations for those who want to run for the Shura Council midterm elections.
 
The Interior Ministry is expected to declare during the coming hours the initial list the candidates of the elections, preparing for opening the door for challenges and complaints against these nominees.þ
 
One week after receiving the challenges, the final list of the candidates will be declared to run for the elections next June 11.þ
 
The number of parties that decided to field candidates in the elections are five parties. The highest in number, among opposition parties, is the Republican Party (8 candidates), Tagamue party (three candidates, Arab Socialist Party of Egypt (one candidate), Shabab Misr (two candidates), the Constitutional Party (twocandidates), while Al-Wefaq party retreated from fielding two candidates to run for the elections. Al-Wafd and Nasserist parties still insist on boycotting the elections, while the ruling National Democratic Party fields 97 candidates to compete on 88 seats .
 
While the Muslim Brotherhood group (MB) managed, until Sunday morning, to field 16 candidates despite all bullying and obstacles put by the Interior Ministry to prevent the MB candidates from tabling their nomination papers, including:
Mohamed Mahmoud Al Kashef- Menia El Kameh, Sharqiya
Abdul Mohsen Al Qamhawi – Talkha, Dakahlia
Sayed Ibrahim Saleh – Ussim, Giza
Samir Abou Shamiya, Samalut, Minya
Gaber Mansour – Bani Suwayf,
Ahmed Khattab, Shibin El Kanatar and Al Khankah, Qalyubiya .
 
Dr. Mohamed Habib, the first deputy chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood group, said in a statement to Ikhwanweb:” Unfortunately, we have managed to field only 16 candidates only due to the undemocratic measures taken by the Egyptian regime that prevented a number of MB candidates from tabling their papers.
 
The group has previously said that it will field 20 candidates to run for the Shura Council elections.
 
Asked whether the group can increase the number of candidates, Dr. Habib said it is very difficult under such conditions because today is the final day and the government’s policy is unchanged.
 
Habib pointed out that the group will file lawsuits in front of the administrative justice to expose the violations of the administrative committee in the Interior Ministry which denied the MB candidates from tabling their papers.
 
Regarding the absence of MB’s women candidates in these elections, the MB deputy leader said:” We were planning to filed women candidates, but there are social and family circumstances that prevent this. Add to this the MB’s few number of candidates in the Shura elections (less than 20 candidates), unlike women’s better chances in the People’s Assembly elections, in which the group can field more than 100 candidates.
 
Dr. Habib added that the group’s experiences with the regime in the Shura Council elections of were disappointing, but ” we hope every thing will go well”.
 
Asked about his personal expectations about any potential MB wins, Dr. Habib tied any election win for the group with the size of rigging. If the rate of rigging reached 100 %,  we will not garner any seat. If the rate of rigging is 99 %, we  will have chances to win seats, God willing.