The MB and the election

A lot of people keep asking me why I am so vehemently opposed to the Muslim Brotherhood ( someone even suggested I should write a series of posts titled “How I hate thee, MB? Let me count the ways”), since in their opinion they are the only true effective and organized opposition in Egypt to the NDP. My response has always been the same : I hate – yes, I am not just opposed here- the MB because they are dishonest power-whores who will do anything to get a piece of ruling Egypt. They are not really in the opposition by choice; they would support Mubarak in a heartbeat if it means achieving their goals, Egypt be damned. Not to mention, they are often in bed with the NDP, and this election is shaping up to be the ultimate proof of that fact. The MB and the NDP have seemingly reached some sort of Power-sharing agreement: The MB won’t run in full force and will chose seats that the NDP probably can’t win, in return of splintering the votes of the opposition in seats that the NDP wants to win. The MB even admitted that they are not running in full force in order to placate the government. They are running 150 candidates, and they can possibly win 30 or even 50 seats. In a Parliament of 444 seats, even if they won 100 seats, that’s not big enough to cause any change or shake the NDP’s hold on power. The NDP, on the other hand, is very ok with the MB winning those seats. Hell, they would rather have the MB candidate win against any of the NFC candidates any day of the week and twice on Sunday, because the MB are not an official party. This means that even if they had 25% of the seats, they still can’t field candidates for the next Presidential run according to the amended constitution, while if any of the united opposition parties wins 5% of the seats they can. The NDP doesn’t want contenders the next election, because that’s the one where Gamal will run, and this is the perfect way , the constitutional way, to not have anyone run against him. Unlike his father, the people don’t really have any reasons to tolerate Gamal, and would go and vote him out in a multi-candidate election if they could. This is why it’s important to have no alternatives to him, and by the MB winning all of the opposition seats, the NDP would get just that. This is the main reason why they are letting the MB field candidates whose fliers say that they are the MB’s candidate and who sport their slogan “Islam is the solution” , despite the rules that state using religion in the fliers to be verbotten. This is why they are allowing them to have all the freedom they want in campaigning, posting fliers, and generally flexing their political muscles on the street. It’s all good, as far as the NDP honchos are concerned, who have said that they would be happy with winning 75-80% of the seats, which they will either by having their candidate win, or by having the winning candidate join their party. It’s a win-win situation for both the MB and the NDP, with Egypt and its people being, as always, the only losers.