Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood squashed possibility of alliance with ultraconservatives

In an attempt to address the concerns of youths and like-minded liberals in Egypt on Thursday, Muslim Brotherhood has denied any possibility of alliance with such parties who are ‘ultraconservatives’. In fact, they claimed to have no such reservations to form a coalition government with more liberal political partners. This is in response to the assumptions being made about the likelihood of a majority alliance between Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party and the ultraconservative Al Noor Salafi Muslim party.

Thursday also saw Egyptian administration postponing the declaration of the first phase of parliamentary election results by a day to Friday, stating record turnout as the possible reason. But, unofficially, it is confirmed that Muslim Brotherhood has already notched up the first place in the first round of the three round parliamentary elections.

After lifting of ban since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak, Muslim Brotherhood, the main stream Islamist group in Egypt, has been busy in image building. They seem to come across as a responsible, forward-thinking Islamist party who are serious about nation building. In the two days of the parliamentary elections, they were seen trying to reach out to all sections of people with pamphlets and fliers and also helping people out with poll procedures. Whoever wins the elections, a tough balancing job is awaiting them – steering the country away from fanatics and poverty and at the same time gain the confidence of its people.