Egypt

Brotherhood bars former MPs from running for Parliament

Egypt’s largest political organization plans to ban some of its former lawmakers from running for re-election in response to complaints against them.

Muslim Brotherhood sources said 20 percent of the group's former People's Assembly members would be excluded from the next parliamentary elections as a result of their poor performance and constituent complaints, Al-Masry Al-Youm reported.

Islamists dominated the country's first freely elected post-Hosni Mubarak Parliament with about 70 percent of the seats, but the lower house was dissolved in June after a court ruled its election unconstitutional. 

No date has been set for elections to replace that body, but they are expected to take place late this year.

The Brotherhood is considering nominating Murad Ali, the former media advisor for its political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party, to run for election in Qasr al-Nil against former MP Mohamed Abu Hamed.

Abu Hamed, a secular MP and a critical voice against the Muslim Brotherhood, beat out the Brotherhood's Mostafa Farghaly in the previous election.

Mohamed Abdallah Sayyaf of the group’s Beni Suef office also said the Brotherhood is coordinating with other Islamist groups to nominate Ahmed Youssef, a leading figure in the jihad movement who ran in the previous election with support from the Brotherhood.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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