The Muslim Brotherhood (MB)'s internal opposition front has called on the movement's leadership to work on obtaining an official party license with a view to becoming a legal opposition party.
“We hope that the MB will seriously consider applying for the formation of a political party with the aim of reorganizing the group's structure, establishing legitimacy and embarrassing the government in the event that it refuses to accept the group’s application papers,” said MB internal opposition front member Khaled Daoud.
“In the past, this idea has merely been a media ploy by the MB Guidance Office to stifle those within the group that were calling for legitimacy through the establishment of a political party,” he added. “We hope this isn’t simply another ploy and that membership in the party will not be restricted to MB members.”
He went on to say that the proposed political party would also have to review its stance on the issue of whether a woman or Coptic Christian could stand for the presidency of the republic.
“I doubt the MB will apply for the establishment of a political party since this is against its principles," said MB internal opposition front leader Mukhtar Noah. “The establishment of a political party based on open membership is unfeasible, since the MB itself rejects the concept.”
According to Amar Ali Hassan, expert on Islamic movements, "The only way for the MB to preserve its social and political existence is for it to change the positions on which it has been based for the last 82 years.”
Hassan went on to assert that Egypt's contemporary political arena could no longer embrace the MB’s traditional strategy as it had in the past, and that the group therefore needed to adopt "a novel approach."
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
