The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's most influential opposition group, said on Wednesday a government proposal to allow a multicandidate vote for president was meaningless because of curbs on who can run. President Hosni Mubarak, who has ruled since 1981, took Egypt by surprise last Saturday, by proposing a constitutional amendment to end the old system of popular referendums on a single candidate selected in advance. The United States, a close ally which has been calling on Egypt to reform, said Mubarak's decision to allow a multicandidate vote was "very important." But independents wishing to stand in this year's vote will have to be endorsed by members of parliament and local councils. And the deputy head of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mohammed Habib, said that aimed to exclude his officially banned group from running. "These conditions empty the amendment of its real content and take us back to square one. It's as if there was no amendment," he told Reuters. "There remains only one candidate and he is President Mubarak."
Recognised political parties will be allowed to nominate candidates for this year's vote without further endorsement. Officials have yet to say how many members of parliament and local councils must endorse independents for them to run. The officially banned but tolerated Brotherhood is the biggest opposition group in Egypt. It holds about 20 seats in parliament — more than any other opposition party. Habib was certain the level of endorsement needed by local councils dominated by the ruling party would exclude the Brotherhood, which analysts say has broader popular support than any of the recognised opposition parties. "You open the door and then you shut it and say: `There is an amendment, so present yourself for nomination.' But I find the door completely shut," he said.
Mohammed Farid Hassanein, an activist who wants to stand as an independent, also told Reuters he believed there was little point in changing the constitution while Mubarak controlled the security forces and media. Other opposition groups have also voiced concern that the rules on nominations will undermine the freedom of the vote. Habib dismissed the electoral chances of any opposition parties. "The parties are cartoon parties," he said. "They have some weight, but it is very, very limited weight in the Egyptian political street." Habib said the proposed presidential referendum change could have been the result of pressure from the United States. "I think it is the result of foreign pressure more than it is of internal pressure," he said. Mubarak, who has ruled Egypt since the assassination of Anwar Sadat, has shown no intention of carrying out reforms that would allow real political freedom, Habib said.