Widely regarded as Egypt's best organized political force, the Muslim Brotherhood is expected to do well in parliamentary elections that are scheduled for September.
But it has said it does not want a parliamentary majority, nor will it field a candidate for president.
Egypt's military rulers, who took over on Mubarak's toppling after massive street protests against his authoritarian rule, have promised a presidential vote by the end of 2011.
The MB is talking 'softly softly' now to try to keep the military from getting alarmed enough to postpone the elections. If the elections are held in September, it's more than likely that the MB plus the Salafist parties, who are even more radical and more Islamist than the MB itself, will hold the majority in Parliament.
And as for the candidate for president, Reuters seems to have missed the news: one of the major candidates, Abul Futouh, is a senior member of the MB, though he's running as an 'independent'. The other leading candidate is Amr Moussa, who is very sympatico with the MB.
As for Hillary Clinton, I guess 'if you can't beat'em, join'em' is now the guiding principle of US foreign policy. Way to go Huma. |
