Just when you thought rigging elections was so 20th century, the ruling party in Egypt is flexing its muscles by shutting down all opposition. As one newspaper publisher told the NYT, “At least get creative in how you rig the elections. I was expecting a few more seats for the opposition.” Well, the Muslim Brotherhood which has about 88 seats in the current parliament (unofficially: MB candidates have to run as independents to skirt a ban against their party) may end up with none, and out of 200 candidates from the other opposition group (Al Wafd) only 4 will go to the second round scheduled for Sunday). The MB had 130 candidates in these elections, but only 27 moved to the second round which the party is now threatening to boycott, according to Al-Arabiyya. The fact that Mubarak's party has come out victorious is not surprising, but the heavy-handedness of the rigging process is surreal. This is extremely depressing. What a charade! Then they ask why Arabs are angry!


The candidate with the suit is from the Muslim Brotherhood
and on the voting box is written: Voting is forbidden.