World News - brotherhood

Mar

2012

6:44pm, EDT

Muslim Brotherhood says it will run candidate for president in Egypt election

By Ayman Mohyeldin, NBC News correspondent

CAIRO -- Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood has announced it will field its own candidate for Egypt's presidential election on May 23.

The announcement of Khairat al Shater's selection by the Brotherhood's executive committee is a significant departure for the group, which initially vowed it would not field a candidate from within the organization. The Muslim Brotherhood's political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party, already controls nearly half of parliament.

Before he can run, Shater must win the endorsement of 30 members of parliament (he will easily do that). But he will also need a pardon from the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to overturn a previous conviction. During Hosni Mubarak's decades-long rule, Shater was imprisoned for several years more than once. A popular uprising forced Mubarak to resign in February 2011.

Shater is considered the architect of the Muslim Brotherhood's political emergence in recent years and often credited for coming up with many of the movement's policies. Shater, a millionaire businessman, also controls the group's finances.

The Muslim Brotherhood decision will certainly ring alarm bells in Washington and has already angered many in Egypt who have been warning that the Brotherhood is slowly attempting to take over all aspects of political life, including parliament, local councils, the constitutional committee and now the presidency.

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Dec

2011

1:25pm, EST

Egypt Islamists fight military rulers over charter

By The Associated Press

CAIRO -- Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group set to dominate the new parliament, accused the country's military rulers Thursday of trying to undercut the authority of elected legislators even before the house is seated.

The Brotherhood said it is boycotting a council appointed by the ruling generals to oversee the drafting of the new constitution and stayed away from a meeting to set up the panel on Thursday.

In theory, the new parliament will be entrusted with forming a 100-member assembly to write the constitution. But the ruling military council says election results showed the parliament will not be representative, so they are appointing a council to ensure the process of drafting a constitution is protected from extremist religious ideas.

Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Mahmoud Ghozlan said his group will not be part of the new constitutional oversight council because it will deprive the parliament of its authority.

"The military council is determined to turn against the will of the people," he said. "To those who voice fear of Islamists, this is just blackmailing."

Islamist groups won about 68 percent of seats in the first round of parliamentary elections, according to Associated Press calculations based on official results. The Muslim Brotherhood dominated the vote, with about 47 percent, while the second-place Al-Nour — an even more conservative Islamist party — won about 21 percent.

The elections were the first since Hosni Mubarak's February ouster in a popular uprising and the freest and fairest vote in Egypt's modern history. There are still two more rounds over the coming month, but they are not expected to dramatically alter the outcome.
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