Good grief charlie brown here we go again, all the rebellion and ousting of hosni moubarak and then they elect a strict islamic govt?, wheres another iron fisted despot when you need one.. ############################################## Ultraconservative Islamists who anticipate a strong presence in the new Egyptian parliament have outlined plans for a strict brand of religious law that could limit personal freedoms and steer Egypt towards becoming an Islamic state.
Egypt's election commission on Friday announced only a trickle of results from the first round of parliamentary elections and said 62 per cent of eligible voters cast ballots in the highest turnout in modern history.
However, leaked counts point to a clear majority for Islamist parties at the expense of liberal activist groups that led the uprising against Hosni Mubarak. The uprising toppled a regime long seen as a secular bulwark in the Middle East.
The more pragmatic Muslim Brotherhood is poised to take the largest share of votes, as much as 45 per cent. But the Nour Party, which espouses a strict interpretation of Islam in which democracy is subordinate to the Koran, could win a quarter of the house, giving it much power to affect debate.
A spokesman, Yousseri Hamad, said his party considers God's law the only law.
"In the land of Islam, I can't let people decide what is permissible or what is prohibited," Hamad told Associated Press. "It is God who gives the answers as to what is right and what is wrong."
The Nour Party is the main political arm of the hard-line Salafist Muslim movement, which espouses a strict form of Islam similar to that practised in Saudi Arabia. Salafis, who often wear long beards and seek to imitate the life of the Prophet Mohammed, speak openly about wanting to Egypt into a state where personal freedoms, including freedom of speech, women's dress and art, are constrained by Islamic law. Such goals make many Egyptians nervous.
Salafis object to women in leadership roles, citing Muhammad as saying that "no people succeed if led by women". However, when election regulations forced all parties to include women, Salafi cleric Yasser el-Bourhami relented, saying that "committing small sins" is better than "committing bigger ones" - by which he meant letting secular people run the government.
In the end, the party put women at the bottom of its lists, represented by flowers since women's photos were deemed inappropriate.
This week, Salafi cleric and parliamentary candidate Abdel-Monem Shahat caused a stir by saying the novels of Egypt's Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz, read widely in Egyptian schools, are "all prostitution".
Salafis are newcomers on Egypt's political scene. They long shunned the concept of democracy, saying it allows man's law to override God's. But they formed parties and entered politics after Mubarak was ousted, seeking to enshrine Islamic law in Egypt's new constitution.
By contrast, the Muslim Brotherhood is Egypt's largest and best organised political group. It was officially banned under Mubarak but established a nationwide network of activists who built a reputation for offering services to the poor. After Mubarak's fall, the group's Freedom and Justice Party campaigned fiercely. Its organisation and name-recognition gave them a big advantage over newly formed liberal parties.
Stakes are particularly high because the new parliament is supposed to oversee writing Egypt's new constitution. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which took control of the country when Mubarak fell, has tried to impose restrictions on membership in the 100-member drafting committee. The Muslim Brotherhood has said it will challenge the move, and a strong showing by Islamists in the elections could boost its popular mandate to do so.
Hamed, the Nour Party spokesman, said democracy cannot pass laws that contradict religion.
"We endorse Egyptian democracy," he said. "However, I don't give absolute freedom to people to legislate to themselves and decide on what is right or wrong.
"We have God's laws that tell us that."
He suggested, for example, that alcohol should be banned and that a state agency could penalise Muslims for eating during the day in the holy month of Ramadan, when the devout fast from dawn to dusk.
The Muslim Brotherhood and Salafis have both co-operated and disagreed in the past.
The strong Islamist showing worries liberal parties who fear the two groups will work to push a religious agenda.
It has also caused many youth activists who launched the anti-Mubarak uprising to feel that their revolution has been hijacked. Still, the liberal Egyptian Bloc coalition, which is competing with the Salafis to be the second-largest parliamentary bloc, could counterbalance hard-line elements. http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8383991
