Banned group has co-operated with ElBaradei's coalition Matt Bradley Foreign Correspondent The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's most powerful political opposition group, announced yesterday that it would compete in parliamentary elections next month. The Brotherhood's decision comes amid calls by Mohammed ElBaradei, the former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and the Brotherhood's political partner, to boycott what he considers a "sham" nationwide vote.
For their part, the Brotherhood, an officially illegal but widely tolerated political organisation, has cooperated with Mr ElBaradei's "National Coalition for Change" to collect close to a million signatures this summer calling for constitutional change. Mr ElBaradei, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, returned to Egypt in February with tentative plans to run for the country's highest office, but only if the government would agree to amend the constitution to allow for stronger electoral oversight and more space for independent candidates.
Early last month, Mr ElBaradei asked Egypt's legal but largely ineffective opposition political parties - they hold a combined nine seats in Egypt's People's Assembly - to boycott the upcoming legislative elections. "Anyone who participates in the vote either as a candidate or a voter goes against the national will," Mr ElBaradei told reporters early last month, according to the BBC. "If the whole population boycotts the elections totally, it will be in my view the end of the regime."
But so far, few opposition parties have chosen to risk political exclusion to follow in Mr ElBaradei's path. Despite helping Mr ElBaradei with his petition, the Muslim Brotherhood has the most to lose of any other political opponents from an electoral boycott. In Egypt's 455-seat parliament, the Brotherhood's 88 members, who run as independents, are by far the strongest opposition to the country's long-dominant National Democratic Party.
