A large number of Muslim Brotherhood lawyers staged a sit-in yesterday at the Bar Association headquarters, Egypt's most prestigious syndicate, calling for an investigation into the latest election results. Government sources said the syndicate will be placed under judicial sequestration and frozen by the government if the lawyers do not put an end to the ongoing strikes. The protracted, two-stage campaign of the elections ended with the triumph of the current Nasserist President Sameh Ashour, who was re-elected for another four years, while the Muslim Brotherhood won 15 of the association's 24-member council seats.
The results were a disappointment to the Muslim Brotherhood and their pro-government, presidential candidate Ragaai Attiya who won only 28,755 votes, while Ashour won 44,540 votes. The Brotherhood had unsuccessfully backed Attiya twice before in a bid to unseat Ashour, who is more popular with Egyptian lawyers. Despite the fact that the Muslim Brotherhood had tried to diversify their list by including five lawyers with different political affiliations like Al Gamaa Al Islamiya, Al Wafd and the National Democratic Party, many lawyers said that they preferred to have a candidate who was not subject to the domination of a single group. Over the past couple of weeks the Bar Association's headquarters witnessed several clashes between Ashour's supporters and the followers of the Brotherhood who staged round-the-clock sit-in strikes. "It is crystal clear that the government interfered in the elections as they are afraid of the powers of the Muslim brothers," said Mohammed Tosson, a Muslim Brotherhood lawyer and member of the Syndicate's council. |