Arab West Report Egyptian press summaries and media research for dialogue

Muhammad Salāh states that the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood knows that state or ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) officials agree to attend forums about reform, elections and freedom on the condition that there will not be any Muslim Brotherhood activists present, to avoid any appearance of contact between the two groups. Yet the situation is strange, particularly when the focal point of the discussions is the Brotherhood itself.



That was the case during a suhour [the last Muslim meal before starting a day of fasting during the holy month of Ramadān] banquet hosted by Egypt’s International Economic Forum under the title "Egypt: after the presidential election and before the parliamentary election." During the banquet, most of the talk centered on the Muslim Brotherhood, but no Brotherhood member was present to defend or explain the group’s ideology, since Shoura Council and NDP Policies Secretariat member Muhammad Kamāl was speaking at the banquet.



Muhammad Kamāl said in the forum that the ruling party objects to the Brotherhood’s "Islam is the Solution" slogan, adding the party would lodge a complaint to the committee supervising the election about the use of religious slogans.



Dr. Mona Zhu al-Fiqār, member of the National Council for Women, spoke about lack of female representatives on the candidate lists of all parties, particularly the NDP.



Mahmoud Abāza, the al-Wafd Party deputy leader, Husayn ‘Abd al-Rāziq, the prominent member of the leftist Tajammu‘ [Grouping] Party, and ‘Abd al-Mun‘im Sa‘īd, head of the al-Ahrām Center for Political & Strategic Studies, all spoke about feasibility of the forthcoming parliamentary elections and whether they would take place in transparent and free atmosphere. Abāza urged a frank dialogue to deal firmly with the issue of the Brotherhood, noting the state has been, and still is, making a big mistake by leaving the Brotherhood to be dealt with by the security organizations.



Kamāl al-Shāzlī, the minister of People’s Assembly and Shoura Council affairs, had earlier phoned al-Hayāt to speak about the Brotherhood. Commenting on his interview with the London-based newspaper published on October 30, 2005, al-Shāzlī pointed out that he did not expect the Brotherhood to win a certain number of seats in the new parliament "on the grounds that the results of the election are only set by the voters themselves through the ballot boxes and that no one could foresee the direction of the voters’ will."



* Similar editorials commenting on the Brotherhood’s slogan were published in Rose al-Yousuf newspaper of November 1, 2005 (p. 3); Akhbār al-Yawm of October 29, 2005 (p. 9); Rose al-Yousuf newspaper of October 27, 2005 (p. 3); al-Jumhouriya of October 27, 2005 (p. 15).