By the end of this week, the Holy Month of Ramadan would have bid us farewell. With it will end the storyline of the television series “The Society”, which is being broadcast by several Arab satellite television channels. This series has been surrounded by tremendous debate due to its addressing the history and present state of affairs of the Society of the Muslim Brotherhood, from a perspective which the Brotherhood, and perhaps others, has considered to hold prejudice against the society and to misrepresent its history, as well as some of the facts connected to its leader and original founder, Sheikh Hassan Al-Banna, its leaders and its major figures, even among opposition members. Yet more importantly, the Brotherhood is not a mere television series that speaks of a particular historical period or that reminds people of events that have taken place through history. Indeed, it is a society which is present in Egypt, has branches and arms in most Arab and Muslim countries, and is present in different ways in many Western countries. In Egypt, the series “The Society” will come to an end on television screens, but another real series will be resumed anew directly after Eid Al-Fitr, when “the Society” will be the most prominent player on the scene of Egyptian politics, and the public will prepare to follow the developments of the parliamentary elections, scheduled on the coming November 27. Indeed, all indications certify that the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) will face heated and fierce competition from the candidates of the Muslim Brotherhood. As for the other political parties, most of them will not be able to wage the elections due to their poor capabilities, capabilities which are abundant for the ruling party or the Brotherhood. The coming weeks, before the start of candidacy applications, may witness certain agreements or deals between the parties to the electoral game, and between such or such a party, or between opposition parties on the one hand and the ruling party on the other, over some electoral districts. On the other hand, other parties seek to please the Muslim Brotherhood in different ways in order to ensure for themselves the votes of its vast and dense electoral base, which will most certainly have an impact if the elections are held in a fair and transparent manner. So far, the Wafd Party has not determined its stance on waging the elections and will make the final decision to participate or to boycott by the middle of this month. I can already assert that the Wafd Party will be participating, and that what is taking place within it at the moment are merely the repercussions of the internal elections held by the party, which ended with the victory of Doctor Al-Sayyid Al-Badawi over his competitor, former Party Chairman Doctor Mahmoud Abaza. As for the Nasserist Party, there is an ongoing conflict within it over the issue of participating or boycotting which has not yet been resolved. Meanwhile, the Tagammu Party (National Progressive Unionist Party) has more or less determined its stance and decided to take part in the elections, and the Democratic Front Party has announced a while ago that it will be boycotting, because the circumstances under which the elections are being held “do not ensure sound elections”. These four parties, which have formed a coalition, have put forward demands which they deem necessary to reassure everyone as to the soundness of the elections, and I do not think that the government or the ruling party will comply with any demands, because it always keeps its eyes on the Muslim Brotherhood. Indeed, the real confrontation will take place between the NDP and the Brotherhood. The ruling party is aware of this, the government knows this as well, and the Muslim Brotherhood knows better than anyone that it will only be facing the ruling party. If the Arab audience had been following the series “The Society” on television during Ramadan, it will over the next few weeks discover that the reality is completely different, and that the Society it had been seeing throughout the Holy Month is not a mere television series, but rather a major force in the real world, one which the ruling party in Egypt seeks to antagonize, while the other opposition parties seek its favor… and the votes of its members. Indeed, the Muslim Brotherhood in the coming elections in Egypt will not be “The Society” of television screens.
