Arab States Crackdown on MB Will not Deter Them Calling for Peaceful Reform

According to Islamist analysts and observers, the regimes of Egypt and Jordan have both targeted the Muslim Brotherhood opposition in their parliamentary elections. The MB in Egypt and its offshoot, the Islamic Action Front in Jordan, faced the fiercest crackdown to ensure the group would be limited to a marginal role in parliament.

The crackdown, which has been described as the toughest in nearly a decade, has seen the Arab states pressuring the group to withdraw from politics.

Security forces in Egypt arbitrarily arrested many of the Brotherhood‘s leadership, supporters and members ahead of parliamentary elections on November 28. The group has failed to acquire any seats outright in the first round of the elections, where the turnout reached between 12 to 25 percent despite securing 88 seats in the 2005 polls. The MB chose to boycott the second round despite 27 of the group being allegeable to contest the runoff scheduled on December 5.
 
According to Egyptian analyst, Hassan Nafaa, either the NDP party is so huge that it will be impossible to beat in any election, or the ruling party has practiced, as usual, a vast fraud.
Its Jordanian neighbour also did not fare well as the Hashemite regime limited the Brotherhood hoping to deactivate any Islamic opposition. In November, the MB offshoot boycotted the polls in protest to a new election law they described as discriminatory.
 
Both the MB in Egypt and its offshoot in Jordan emphasized that it may not have won seats in parliament but it would still be part of the political arena working for the country and the people calling for reform through only peaceful means.