Egypt's Brotherhood, 17 Parties Establish Election Platform

Egypt's Brotherhood, 17 Parties Establish Election Platform

VOA News

Photo: AP

Egyptian Muslim brotherhood Shura council members gather to be photographed

 outside the new Muslim brotherhood headquarters in Cairo, April 30, 2011(file)

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood has joined with 17 political parties to establish what they call a pro-democracy platform for parliamentary elections scheduled for September.

In a statement, the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party and the other factions say they approved the document Tuesday. The coalition pledges to push for equality and democratic freedoms. 

The Islamist Muslim Brotherhood is one of Egypt's most organized political movements.

It plans to compete for up to half of the seats in the parliamentary vote, the first to be called since a popular uprising ended the near 30-year rule of  Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in February. 

But the Brotherhood has said it will not field a candidate for a presidential election to be held later in the year.

The Brotherhood said Tuesday it had expelled member Abdel Moneim Futuh for declaring that he will run for the presidency as an independent. 

In another sign of divisions within the movement, a group of Brotherhood youths announced they have broken off to form their own political party. 

The Muslim Brotherhood was outlawed under Mubarak's rule, but it became the biggest opposition bloc in parliament after a 2005 election in which its members ran as independents.

The movement boycotted the next election under Mubarak in November 2010.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.