Cairo: The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's biggest but outlawed opposition group, has vowed to campaign for next month's parliamentary elections, using religious slogans, despite a ban from the government-appointed election commission.
"We will raise the slogan ‘Islam is the Solution' because it reflects Egypt's history and culture and judicial rulings have upheld its legality," the group said in a statement on its website yesterday.
Banned since 1954, the Muslim Brotherhood has been fielding its members in elections as independents. In the 2005 elections, the group garnered a fifth of the parliamentary seats, dominated by President Hosni Mubarak's party. But senior officials in the Egyptian government have recently warned that the group will not make similar gains in the elections scheduled to be held on November 28.
"These statements show that there are intentions to rig the elections," said the group, which added that more than 150 members have been detained since it announced a plan to participate in the polls.