Bikya Masr
"CAIRO: The Muslim Brotherhood is now fielding a presidential candidate, Khairat Shater.
This is precisely what the Brotherhood asserted it would not do—namely, run a candidate in the presidential elections.
After the Brotherhood’s massive wins in parliamentary elections, there is fear the group may become too powerful, and that minority interests in Egypt will be marginalized.
The Brotherhood’s political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party, won a good 30 percent of the vote, and almost 50 per cent of the seats in the new parliamentary elections.
As deputy leader of the Brotherhood, the 62 year-old Shater spent over a decade in Egypt’s prisons for his association with the organization, and was only released after the fall of Mubarak last year.
Mubarak-era prisons are notorious for having been harsh to the point of inhumane.
Curiously, Shater was able to maintain his multi-billion dollar business and remain influential in the Brotherhood’s machinations while he was incarcerated.
If the Brotherhood’s performance in the parliamentary elections is any sort of litmus test for how they will show in the presidential elections, then the liberal secularists in Egypt are facing a serious blow to representation in the impending Egyptian government.
And too, the Supreme Council of Armed Forces, SCAF, who has been Egypt’s custodial government since the fall of Mubarak is also likely to be displeased."
"CAIRO: The Muslim Brotherhood is now fielding a presidential candidate, Khairat Shater.
This is precisely what the Brotherhood asserted it would not do—namely, run a candidate in the presidential elections.
After the Brotherhood’s massive wins in parliamentary elections, there is fear the group may become too powerful, and that minority interests in Egypt will be marginalized.
The Brotherhood’s political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party, won a good 30 percent of the vote, and almost 50 per cent of the seats in the new parliamentary elections.
As deputy leader of the Brotherhood, the 62 year-old Shater spent over a decade in Egypt’s prisons for his association with the organization, and was only released after the fall of Mubarak last year.
Mubarak-era prisons are notorious for having been harsh to the point of inhumane.
Curiously, Shater was able to maintain his multi-billion dollar business and remain influential in the Brotherhood’s machinations while he was incarcerated.
If the Brotherhood’s performance in the parliamentary elections is any sort of litmus test for how they will show in the presidential elections, then the liberal secularists in Egypt are facing a serious blow to representation in the impending Egyptian government.
And too, the Supreme Council of Armed Forces, SCAF, who has been Egypt’s custodial government since the fall of Mubarak is also likely to be displeased."
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