Islam Times - Egypt will never be rendered as religious and the brothers will not get the expected majority

Egypt will never be rendered as religious and the brothers will not get the expected majority

Cairo (Islam Times) - The attendees of the symposium political elections held by the Ain Shams University on Monday evening expressed their concern that the next parliament would not reflect the people and the revolution and include the Muslim Brotherhood and remnants. They directed strong criticism of the Muslim Brotherhood, and confirmed that they will not get the majority that they expect.

Islam Times: Dr. Abdul Aziz Al-Husseini Al-Karama representative at the seminar said that the next parliament will not reflect the people's revolution but will feature Islamist and remnants with big percentages. He referred to its great fear of political money in reference to the businessmen who receive funds from Arab and Western sates and set up parties by that money.

Dr. Mustafa Najjar representative of the Party of Justice in the seminar agreed with him and said that the National Party split itself to 8 sections and began to work well whereas the parties are still in conflict with each other and are competing and worrying about artificial things such as a religious state. He said "Egypt will never be rendered as a religious state".

He added "Neither the brotherhood nor any other party can attain a majority in the next election because of the emergence of new voting blocs. For example in Nasr City constituency in 2005 elections in which the number of participants reached 24 thousand, the referendum has reached 200 thousand people. For that, if the Brothers depended on those whom they know, they may not achieve a majority”.

Dr. Imad Jad, representative of the Social Democratic Party agreed with him saying "Who want to work in politics should operate in the politics of religion, better than to play with politics. Politics is a dirty game which has many tricks" in reference to the use of the Brotherhood of religion during the referendum.

Dr. Nevin Massad, professor of economics and social sciences agreed with him where she said that there is severe confusion in the issue of political parties. The law states that he parties should not be formed based on religion. However, the party of freedom and justice is the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as the party of construction and development which is the political wing of Islamic Jihad.

Jad also noted that the majority party in the next parliament will not exceed the rate of 20%, adding that next Parliament will introduce 4 or 5 strong parties, and thus the control of one party will end.

Dr. Abdul Aziz Al-Husseini, Al-Karama representative added that if the next elections were not insured, the Democratic Party of Egypt will withdraw because it does not participate in work which may be stained with blood.

Dr. Mustafa Najjar said that he is not with the prolongation of the transitional period in the country or the postponement of the elections because Egypt is losing more, the longer the transition period.

“There is a second wave of the revolution which will be prompted to the achievement of social justice which the first revolution has not achieved" This was the sentence uttered by Dr. Abdul Aziz Al-Husseini, the representative of the Karama Party. His sentence stirred controversy among the attendees. Dr. Mustafa Najjar, representative of the Party of Justice at the seminar saw that this is unlikely and that if this revolution occurred, it will be violent and not like the revolution of January. Dr. Nevin Massad, professor of political science at Cairo University, agreed with him and saw that the parties do not agree on anything now, so it's difficult to rally a new revolution.

Most of the audience expected that the next parliament will not complete its legal term, either because of the second wave of the revolution, which Husseini referred to, or because of the new constitution that will eliminate the percentage of workers and peasants, and thus, the parliament will become unconstitutional and end.

Representatives of the parties also agreed not to compare the situation of the Tunisian Revolution with the Egyptian Revolution, particularly with regard to formation of the Constituent Assembly to put the constitution in Tunisia. Dr. Nevin saw that Tunisia's better because there is no breakdown of a security such as that seen in Egypt as well. Also, there is a clear cooperation of people and parties. She explained that the Foundation, which will consist of 218 candidates has 11 thousand members, whereas in Egypt we do not walk on the right track because we have put the construction before the foundation. Also, Tunisia has established from the outset to maintain the gains of the revolution, unlike Egypt.

Dr. Imad Jad, representative of the Social Democratic Party, agreed with her and said "The difference between Egypt and Tunisia is that the army in Tunisia is neutral but in Egypt the transitional phase is supervised by part of the former regime. Jad compared the difference between Egypt and Tunisia to a “Marathon” between contestants where some of them walk on a leveled and paved road whereas the others on roads with "bricks and rubbles".

He continued: "the military hobbled us in problems such as the whether the constitution is before the election, of if the election is individual or on the list and then whether to cancel the workers and peasants or not".

Jad added that Egypt is not like Tunisia, also because we in Egypt urge the political impeachment of remnants and at the same time we let a killer such as Sadat form a party and run in the elections, He noted that there are steps take in Egypt which will affect us in the future for the coming hundred years.

In the opinion of Dr. Mustafa Najjar representative of the Justice Party, we should not compare with Tunisia. The situation is different in terms of illiteracy and the established of the concept of a civil state in Tunisia. He said: "Compare the remarks of Ghannouchi, the President of the Islamic Renaissance Party and the statements of Subhi Saleh in Egypt”.