CAIRO, 21 August 2005 — Egypt’s banned Muslim Brotherhood will not back Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Egypt’s first contested presidential election because he failed to deliver political reforms. The Brotherhood, Egypt’s biggest opposition group, has recently held internal talks to decide on its stand towards the Sept. 7 polls.
“All members agreed that during the past 24 years of Mubarak’s regime the country’s political life was stagnant and people were oppressed,” said Akef. “Therefore, we think that he is not the man for the job,” he told Arab News yesterday. First deputy of the banned-but-tolerated group Muhammad Habib, however, said that the group has not decided yet if they will boycott the elections or not.
“If we choose to take part in the elections it is because we believe that people’s participation is very important and that the passiveness of people led to the political oppression we see now,” Habib said. “The group thinks that it is their mission to encourage people to participate in the political life of the country and choose who rule and represent them,” he added.
Abdel Moneim Said, member of the NDP’s Higher Policies Committee and political scientist who heads Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, said he does not believe that the Muslim Brotherhood’s participation could make a difference in the election results. “The Muslim Brotherhood members try to show themselves as the largest group but the reality is that they are not as popular as they try to make people think,” he asserted.
Both Ghad party and Al-Wafd party leaders are negotiating with the Muslim Brotherhood to win their supports in the elections. “I promise that if I win I will make the Muslim Brotherhood a legal party and I will give them a chance to participate and have a word in the country’s political scene,” Ghad leader Ayman Nour said yesterday.
Meanwhile, Egypt’s most famous popular singer and the country’s No. 1 comedian joined hands in supporting the re-election of Mubarak. Singer Shaaban Abdel Rahim and comedian Adel Imam said after their visit to the center for Mubarak’s electoral campaign said Mubarak has done so much for his country that he deserves to be nominated for a fifth term.
Abdel Rahim said he recorded a new song in support of Mubarak which radios will start diffusing in the next days, while Imam said he is planning to act in a film about Mubarak and his era. All presidential candidates will continue their campaigns till Sept. 4. If no candidate wins at least 50 percent of valid votes by then, voters will have to choose between the top two candidates in the second round of voting on Sept. 17.
Meanwhile, tour bus blew a front tire on a Sinai mountain road and crashed in a ravine Friday, killing seven Cypriots, police said. The bus, which was carrying 13 Cypriots, careered off the road that leads to St. Catherine’s Monastery in south Sinai, the Cypriot ambassador to Egypt, Phaedon Anastasiou, told the private Cypriot TV channel Ant 1.
Speaking in Cairo, Anastasiou said he did not know what caused the minibus to leave the road. But police said a front tire burst and the vehicle careered off the road and rolled down the ravine.
Four of the seven dead were members of the same family, Sotos Zakheos, the Cypriot Foreign Ministry’s director general, told local television channels later Friday. Dimos Paisios, his wife Eliada and their two daughters Maria and Stella were killed. Three other Paisios children had been taken to hospital, but their injuries were not serious. Zakheos confirmed police reports that six Cypriots on the bus had been injured.
