Muslim Brotherhood candidate insists party against mixing religion and politics

THE MUSLIM Brotherhood expects its political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party, will win a solid bloc of seats in Egypt’s new people’s assembly, the first freely elected parliament in the country’s history.

Brotherhood member Muhammad Badran is a party candidate in the Cairo districts of Dokki and Agouza who argues that the party is not based on religion. In his view, Islam governs all relations.

However, he also notes: “We do not believe there should be religion in politics.” As men of faith, he says the brotherhood tries “to develop morals in society and serve people.”

He insists the brotherhood has adopted the approach of the moderate Turkish ruling party rather than the radical line taken by the Iranian clerical regime.

He points out that his party has formed an alliance with 40 other parties, the majority of them secular, and says that the Freedom and Justice party list is divided equally between brotherhood members and others. “Our vice president, Rafik Habib, is a Coptic Christian . . . We have many women on our lists.” His wife, a professor of political science, is a local level brotherhood official.

Mr Badran complains that the Egyptian and foreign media “attack us aggressively although before the revolution we were against [ousted president Hosni] Mubarak and in each street we provide services to the people.

“We are not using religion in our campaign,” as some charge. “People believe in us. We win elections in syndicates and associations.”

A clean shaven young engineer, Mr Badran says that once the new parliament takes shape, the most important thing will be to draw up a plan to reform government ministries and argues that this should be done during the first 100 days after the inauguration of the people’s assembly.

“If we have a ministry or ministries, we will apply this plan.” He hesitates, aware that many Egyptians and outsiders fear that the brotherhood will assert itself once it is in parliament again, then says, “We are not on target to be ministers but, if asked, we will join a government . . . The main thing is to develop the society, to give people jobs, manage traffic, improve transportation, repair the streets.”

In response to accusations by democracy activists that the brotherhood is prepared to accept military rule, perhaps indefinitely, he states: “It is not appropriate to ask the military to leave power these days. We have to deal with [the generals] until the transitional period is finished. We have an exit date at the end of June,” once the country votes for a new president.

“The new parliament elected by Egyptians will have the authority to face the army then, and force it to go back to barracks.” On the protesters camping out in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the epicentre of the uprising, he observes: “Tahrir doesn’t represent all the Egyptian people. We agree with their [the revolutionaries’] demands but we do not agree with the way they are behaving.”

The brotherhood supports the revolutionaries’ calls for an end to military trials of civilians, the release of prisoners, reform of the security forces, and the formation of a credible government of “national salvation”, but not with the revolutionaries’ insistence that the generals stand down immediately and hand over power to such a government or a council of respected civilian elders.

Many secular Egyptians do not trust the brotherhood which, since Mubarak’s ouster in February, has sided with the military on key issues. Some believe the brother- hood could try to partner the military rather than press for it to relinquish power.

Physician and businessman, Youssef Zaki points out that the brotherhood and other Egyptian fundamentalist parties are not as “mature” as their equivalent in Tunisia, al- Nahda, which was victorious in its first democratic election.