The Islamist Muslim Brotherhood on Wednesday, edged towards a dominant role in Egypt’s first free parliament in decades, but said it would not impose its will over a new constitution.
The Islamist group said it would work with all political rivals on the blueprint.
Egyptians went to the polls for a second day in the final stage of the election for the assembly’s lower house, the first free legislative vote since military officers overthrew the monarchy in 1952.
The vote was part of the ruling army council’s plan to hand power to civilians before July, ending their turbulent interregnum that began with the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak in February in a popular uprising.
Welcomed then as heroes who helped nudge the unpopular, autocratic leader from office, the generals now face anger over their handling of protests that left 59 dead since mid-November and an economic crisis that is worsening the plight of the poor.
Raids last week on non-government organisations monitoring the vote by police who sought evidence of foreign funding for political parties had incensed rights activists and drawn a rebuke from Egypt’s long-time ally the U.S.
The Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) had led after two of the three rounds of voting and the rise of Islamist parties in the poll has prompted Western concern for the future of Egypt’s close ties to Washington and peace with Israel.
Founded in 1928, the Brotherhood is Egypt’s best organised political force, emerging stronger than others from three decades of autocratic rule under Mubarak.
The new parliament would pick a 100-member assembly to write a new constitution.
“The party’s winning of the majority in the new parliament does not mean doing it alone in writing the constitution without consideration for the rights of other Egyptians, or ignoring the political forces which did not get a majority or failed in the parliamentary elections,” said FJP head Mohamed Mursi.
“All political forces and intellectuals in Egypt, regardless of their political and religious allegiances, will take part in writing the constitution,” said Mursi, whose comments were published on the Muslim Brotherhood’s website on Tuesday.
The more hardline Islamist al-Nour Party has come second in the voting so far.
Some analysts believe, however, that the Muslim Brotherhood could seek to build a coalition with secular groups.
That could ease concerns at home and in the West about the rise of the Islamists in a country whose economy was propped up by tourism.
The staggered lower house election concludes with a run-off vote on Jan. 10 and 11, with final results expected on Jan. 13.
Voting for the upper house would be held in January and February.
The election would produce the first Egyptian parliament with popular legitimacy in decades, raising the possibility of friction with the army.
The army has been the focus of the street protests, held by activists who accuse it of seeking to hold on to power and privilege.
The generals say they do not want to govern, but some still doubt their intentions.
In an echo of the Mubarak years, four activists were detained on Tuesday for putting up posters critical of the military council, activists and a source in the public prosecutor’s office said.
They were detained while hanging posters comparing images of soldiers after the 1973 war with Israel with pictures of troops beating women in Cairo during protests last month, said Amr Ezz, an organiser of the April 6 movement to which the four belonged.
Gamal Eid, a human rights lawyer, said the arrests were part of a trend including raids last week against 17 pro-democracy and human rights groups.
The U.S. criticised the authorities over the raids, part of what Cairo said was an investigation into foreign funding.
The U.S. said Egypt had failed to resolve the stand-off over the U.S.-backed non-governmental organisations.
“We had been assured by leaders within the Egyptian government that this issue would be resolved, it is frankly unacceptable to us that that situation has not been returned to normal,” a U.S. State Department spokeswoman said.
She said it appeared Egypt’s crackdown on pro-democracy NGOs was driven by “Mubarak hold-overs who don’t understand how these organisations operate in a democratic society”.
Courtesy Reuters