- 2010 election update
- October 28, 2010
- 2 minutes read
Tensions rise in Egypt with approaching elections
Tension is rising between the ruling National Democratic Party in Egypt and its two strongest rivals resulting in the Muslim Brotherhood condemning the arrest of over 200 of its members and Al-Wafd party’s announcement that it may succumb to the call to boycott November’s parliamentary elections.
According to the Wafd party, “Al Wafd may boycott the elections if the government continues its obstinacy towards the party in refusing to air its political advertisements.”
Chairman for the Egyptian Radio and Television Union, Osama El Sheikh, asserted that state television does not restrict political advertisements so long as they are approved by the Electoral Committee.
Al-Wafd’s threats to boycott coincide with criticisms by Egypt’s largest opposition movement, the Muslim Brotherhood, who maintain that the government is suppressing their group through mass arrests ahead of the elections.
According to security officials, MB members were arrested in Alexandria while plastering posters promoting their group’s candidates that bore religious slogans which violate electoral laws.
MB MP, Hussein Ibrahim, asserted that there has, in fact, been a court order allowing the MB’s renowned motto “Islam Is the Solution”, however, the Alexandria posters only contained the words “God is Great”.
Although the 70 political detainees were issued release orders, the MB anticipate that the regime’s animosity will continue with the approaching parliamentary elections, indicating that the regime is incapable of engaging in free, fair and transparent elections resorting to arrests and oppression.