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Ghozlan: Egyptian Regime Cannot Compete With MB in Transparent Elections

The number of Muslim Brotherhood affiliates arrested, shortly before the beginning of the registration for the upcoming municipal elections, has exceeded 900 detainees till last Thursday (April 3rd) according to the Muslim Brotherhood statistics.

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The number of Muslim Brotherhood’s members and activists who have been arrested in the run up for the municipal elections has exceeded 900, according to the Muslim Brotherhood statistics.
 
The crackdown against the MB by the Egyptian government has intensified folowing statements by the Egyptian Interior Minister “Habib Al-Adly” last Tuesday confirming that the government will continue targeting MB members and supporters and will do whatever it takes to prevent them from running in the municipal elections held on April 8. More than 400 MB activists have been arrested in the first four days following Al-Adly’s statements

Dr. Mahmoud Ghozlan, member of the MB Executive Bureau, reacted to the mounting number of arrests among MB activists by stating that  the Egyptian regime is terrified from competing against the Muslim Brotherhood in any transparent elections, especially after the significant gains by  the MB in the 2005 Parliamentary elections.
 
He attributed the recent escalation of the regime’s clampdown on the MB to its popularity and the support it enjoys among Egyptians which makes it a vialble contender if elections were held transparently.

"The regime realized the MB’s political weight and its popularity, therefore, it resorts to undemocratic and oppressive measures to prevent MB cadidates from running in any elections or fix the results if  the MB was able to run"
 

Ghozlan noted that campaign against the MB is taking a wider scale following the 2005 parliamentary elections by not only resricting the freedoms and consitutional rights of its members but also targeting businesses and economic structures on the assumption that they are affiliated with the MB or provide aid to its activisties

" In Monufya Goveronate alone, more than 250 businesses have been shut down for allegedly beloging to the MB or financing its activities"  he complained. 

Ghozlan predicted the goverment’s crackdown against the MB to continue even after the municipal elections, especially if the issue of power transfer to the President’s son becomes a priority for the regime.