Egyptians fear violent polls

2005-12-06 19:42

Cairo - Egypt's month-long parliamentary elections will wind up on Wednesday - amid fears of more violence in the final round as security forces continue to round up supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood.

With two phases of polling completed, the Islamist movement has already increased its seat tally five-fold with 76 MPs. It could reach the 100-mark in Wednesday's third stage runoffs.

But the ruling National Democratic Party's (NDP's) dominance of parliament is not at risk, nor is its two-thirds majority needed to pass constitutional amendments and emergency laws.

Hosni Mubarak's NDP and affiliated independents have already won around half of the 444 seats ahead of Wednesday's 127 runoffs.

The Muslim Brotherhood has complained that last Thursday's first round of the final phase was rigged, as it won no seats outright.

Thirty-five of its candidates are involved in runoffs.

Brotherhood supporters arrested

It has also accused the regime of seeking to curb its gains by stepping up arrests of Brotherhood supporters and campaign activists.

"The NDP completely panicked, they could not tolerate the 34 seats we won in the first phase," said Mohammed Habib, of the Muslim Brotherhood.

According to the Islamist movement, a more than 1 300 Brotherhood supporters have been detained since the polls began on November 9.

About 80 have been nabbed since Monday.

Violence broke out in several of the nine governorates voting last week, with security forces blocking access to polling stations and clashing with frustrated voters.

Opposition parties, independent civil society organisations and judges monitoring the polling process pointed to widespread irregularities, charging that voter registries were tampered with and the count fixed.

Despite the Brotherhood's spectacular gains, many of the movement's most prominent figures have been denied victory in the elections.

Case for legalisation boosted

The troubled electoral process has also led to the emergence of timid dissent within the ranks of the NDP, with one member of the powerful politburo openly criticising the regime and the conduct of the polls.

The United States, Egypt's ally, has voiced its concern over the violence.

"I think that we have not received, at this point, any indication that the Egyptian government isn't interested in having peaceful, free and fair elections," said US state department spokesperson, Sean McCormack.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch has lashed out at the statement, accusing the US of reneging on its policies of democratisation in the Middle East by turning a blind eye to violations in Egypt's polls.

The surprise results of the Muslim Brotherhood have boosted the, officially banned, movement's case for legalisation as a party, an option which has so far been consistently rejected by both Cairo and Washington.

- AFP