40 MB members arrested ahead of vote

CAIRO: Security forces on Sunday arrested 40 members of the government opposition Muslim Brotherhood for campaigning ahead of key local elections in April, a security source said. The members were arrested in dawn raids on their homes in the port city of Ismailiya, the Nile Delta province of Daqahliya and Beni Suef, south of Cairo, the source added. “They were arrested for activities related to the municipal elections, the source told AFP. “Any Muslim Brotherhood member caught preparing for these elections will be detained. The group is officially banned but its members sit as independent candidates in parliament, holding one fifth of the seats. It has an office which operates openly in downtown Cairo and its members are subject to periodic crackdowns. The Brotherhood says a continued clampdown by the authorities is aimed at preventing its members from running in the April local elections. Traditionally controlled by the ruling National Democratic Party, the municipal polls are now expected to draw fierce competition after a constitutional amendment was passed in 2005 which requires independent presidential candidates to secure the backing of council members. The municipal elections were postponed for two years in 2006, in what observers say was a way to avoid another Muslim Brotherhood election success following the group’s shock gains in the 2005 legislative polls. -AFP