Posted on 11/16/2005 3:08:05 PM PST by one more state
Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood said it had won 34 seats in the first phase of legislative elections, a major advance for the banned but tolerated Islamist group.
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Its candidates, campaigning under the banner "Islam is the solution" in the three-phase election, are aiming for an overall tally of between 50 and 70 seats in the 454-seat parliament.
Spokesman Hassan el-Eryan said Wednesday that the movement had already doubled its representation in parliament, winning 20 percent of the seats being contested in the first round, following a run-off election on Tuesday.
It held a total of 15 seats from the previous poll in 2000, while two more phases of this election have yet to be held.
Brotherhood candidates, who form the major opposition in Egypt, stand as independents to circumvent the problem of illegal status although this excludes the movement from figuring officially as an entity in the results.
The voting on Tuesday in Cairo and seven other regions was for a total of 164 seats. It was marked by violence, corruption and claims of vote-rigging by President Hosni Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party.
Seventeen people were wounded in clashes between supporters of rival candidates on Tuesday, most of then in the town of Beni Seif, south of Cairo.
"There were many irregularities and it will lead to rigged results," said the leader of the Islamist movement, Mohammed Mehdi Akef, after casting his ballot in Cairo.
The Brotherhood puts itself forward as a moderate movement seeking the establishment of an Islamic state. Its only candidate to proclaim the supremacy of men over women, Makarem al-Deiri, was beaten in his bid to take the seat in Medinet Nasr, a comfortable Cairo constituency.
Despite its charges of vote-rigging by Mubarak's ruling party, the Brotherhood in this election has encountered fewer obstacles that in any previous one since its creation by Hassan el-Banna in 1928.
Its gains in this poll have come from an aggressive, well organised and carefully-crafted welfare-oriented campaign.
Tuesday's first round run-off followed Egypt's first ever contested presidential election in September which saw Mubarak returned to office in a landslide.
While the presidential election triggered an unprecedented national debate on reform, the legislative polls are a very local and personalised affair where votes are lost and won with promises for micro-projects, jobs and bribes.
The second round, which includes the northern city of Alexandria, is due to start on November 20. All 26 governorates in the country will have finished voting by December 7.
Not a good direction.
If THAT's their solution, the bastards don't understand the problem..
Semper Fi
It should have read:
"Islam is the FINAL solution"
Truth in advertising and all...
Mohammed, The Mad Poet Quoted....
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1003415/posts
So in other words, the Muslim Brothers are typical Democrats.
campaigning under the banner "Islam is the [final] solution"
There was only one answer to the Nazis, invasion, total destruction, and re-education. No mercy. No compromise. No negotiation.
Republican democracy is the worst thing going but still ahead of everything else. Here it is: While the presidential election triggered an unprecedented national debate on reform, the legislative polls are a very local and personalised affair where votes are lost and won with promises for micro-projects, jobs and bribes.
"Islam is the solution"
To what? That overpopulation problem academics have been lecturing us on all these years?
...to the question of what looks and stinks like sh*t.
Muslim Brothers...Is that like the Blues Brothers - or maybe the Three Stooges?
Seriously, though, you're absolutely right. ME guys get all the women (and young boys) they want, spend much of the day smoking hash or chewing qat, have zero productivity, and are basically living the hippie's dream.
Actually, this isn't true - because of polygamy, some Muslim men get no women at all. Women go to the man who can afford them and then can be his slaves and brood mares alone. This is probably one of the reasons for offering men who want to kill themselves those 72 white raisins in Paradise.
If they are banned, how can they even appear on the ballot? Egypt is run by some pretty stupid people for allowing a group directly involved in the assassination of Anwar Sadat to be involved in the political mainstream.
BAWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!
Sorry... when i stop laffing i may be able to type (just barely):
"Using-the-tools-of-the-kuffar-to-undermine-them" PING
For the most part, Muslim peoples are not ready to rule themselves. They're not even capable of burying Arafat without a hysterical mob having to be dispersed with gunfire. This is a cultural problem, not a racial one.
If you want to see Muslim countries that are moving in the right direction economically and culturally, take a look at places like Dubai and Qatar, which are monarchies. Reforming the Muslim world, if it can be done, will not be because of democracy. It will be because of far sighted leaders who know how to implement policies that actually work.
Voting means the people are in charge of their own destiny. They when they try to take over the world and get bombed back to the 9th century they have an opportunity to reflect on how to live responsibly. It's a long process.
Muslim Brothers = Blood Thirsty Islamo-Fascists BUMP!
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