Muslim Brotherhood Withdraws From Municipal Elections, Calls on Egyptians to Boycott the Vote

The Muslim Brotherhood decided to withdraw from the municipal elections on April 8, and called on the Egyptian people to boycott the vote. After a long fought battle with the Egyptian government which resulted in the arrests of more than 900 of MB activists, preventing candidates from registering themselves to run for elections and ignoring the thousands of court decisions to allow MB and opposition candidates to place their names on the ballots; it became inevitable that the upcoming elections will be rigged by the ruling party and will not express the will of the Egyptian people.

Therefore, the Muslim Brotherhood decided it will be fruitless to compete with a handful of candidates who are living in fears and are not able to even campaign for their elections without the thoughts of being arrested and harassed by security forces.

The Muslim Brotherhood strongly condemns the Egyptian government"s disregard to the constitution and the judiciary and declares it will boycott the next elections and call on the Egyptian people to do the same.

The Muslim Brotherhood will take all continue its fight against the authoritarian and oppressive policies of the ruling National Democratic Party and utilize all legal and constitutional channels at its disposal in order to achieve reform and change which the Egyptian people are long awaiting for