Members of an internal opposition front within the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) movement have challenged recent statements by MB leader Mohamed al-Badie that 98 percent of the group's shura council were in favor of participating in next month’s parliamentary elections.
“This is a ridiculous statement,” said front member Khaled Dawood. “The group never conducted any internal opinion polls on the issue.”
Another front member, Haitham Abu Khalil, confirmed that the front remained opposed to fielding MB candidates in upcoming elections.
“The Guidance Bureau refrained from noting our objections at its last press conference, even though we had notified it in writing one day earlier,” he said.
Abu Khalil went on to call for an internal survey to be conducted in order to gauge the opinions of the group's membership base. “We're willing to debate the issue from the economic, political and legal points of view,” he said.
Guidance Bureau member Saad al-Husseini, for his part, reasserted that a majority of MB members supported the group's participation in elections.
“Our internal survey showed that a majority approves of fielding candidates to vie for 30 seats in parliament,” al-Husseini said.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
