Muslim Brotherhood Deputy Supreme Guide on Jazeera

Moved on! Check TheCairoCalls

Mohammed Kherat El-Shater MB deputy supreme guide appeared on Jazeera a couple of minutes ago to talk about the coming parliamentary elections.
A lot of gutsy talk. Here are some of the sound bites:

• "The Ikhwan are present in every Egyptian town and village. If we wanted to we could've run in all 444 constituencies"
• "We believe that everybody should be involved in the change that we believe should happen in Egypt, that's why we think it would be absurd if we won a majority"!!!!!!!!(This one is really beyond me- editor)
  
• "We have 150 candidates. The number could reach 120 after all the cases in courts against candidates who were sentenced in military tribunals are settled"
• "Of the 120, we expect 60-70 to win in a fair elections; 40 if the government interfered a little bit; and less if the interferences were severe"
• "We only have one female candidate because from previous experiences we know that a lot of candidates are harassed and jailed, so we're just trying it out this time" (If this is not the sine qua non of the MB patriarchal thought, I don't know what is it!- editor)
• "No we don't want to rule. Absolutely no"!

Well, so not gutsy all the way, but apparently more confident than they could've ever hoped for before. I don't know why, but listening to this man speak made me more certain of my theory that the MB (and the government, foolishly) are pushing the idea that the MB has far reaching influence everywhere in Egypt, although it isn't entirely true. In a way creating a self fulfilling prophecy. I also got the feeling that they're not entirely modernized and revamped as they would like us to believe. They're clearly not transparent enough. When asked about whether their platform for this elections was part of a grand project, the answer was cryptic, and the man made the statement that this is only part of the plan which is relevant to the current period.
How do you expect them to win in an election and have a mandate without being frank and fully transparent about their long term plans, except by playing up sensitive religious feelings and mobilizing Muslims against their fellow Christians in a certain Alexandrian constituency?!
This last question is rhetoric, please don't write to me explaining how the MB can actually win. Or do. That would be a good discussion.

Tags: ikhwan, egypt, politics, elections, parliment, muslim brothers,mubarak,ndp