In an official statement, the Muslim Brotherhood admitted on Sunday to meeting with the now defunct state security upon their request in order to avoid detention during the parliamentary elections in 2005. They stressed, however, that the group did not cut a deal with the former regime to secure parliamentary seats, as is widely believed. The Brotherhood, whose political arm the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) boasts nearly half the seats in the current parliament, ran for 160 seats in 2005 and eventually secured 88, thanks, many believe, to a deal with the Mubarak administration.
The Brotherhood's statement reveals that during their meeting with state security, the then illegal group was asked to contest only 30 seats, before their portion was stretched to 40. The group, according to their statement, refused the proposed quota, saying at the time, "This is up to the people, and we don't expect all our candidates to win anyway."
State security was notorious for repression and control under Mubarak, having been linked with routine torture practices and heavy involvement in the suppression of freedoms. During the first round of the 2005 elections, which the Brotherhood described in the statement as "transparent", the Islamist group managed to win around 10 seats, while the runoffs witnessed a wave of vote rigging as well as excessive use of violence among the candidates' supporters, which, the statement reads, left 11 dead and many injured.
The final results, however, left the Brotherhood with 88 seats. The statement quotes Mubarak’s prime minister Ahmed Nazif, now serving time in jail after being convicted on corruption charges, as saying in an interview conducted during the elections, "Had it not been for rigging, the Muslim Brotherhood would have gained at least 40 more seats." The statement added, "No pact from our side was made with State Security; if a pact existed, why would candidates lose illegally? Why would people get killed and why would it be necessary to rig votes?"
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