Former adviser to the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) supreme guide, Abdel Hamid al-Ghazaly, on Tuesday admitted the group brokered a deal with the government over the 2005 parliamentary elections. But al-Ghazaly said no such deal was struck over the impending parliamentary poll.

Al-Ghazaly also posited Egyptians voted for the MB candidates in 2005 to show their dissatisfaction with the regime.

“They weren’t necessarily fond of us,” he said. Al-Ghazaly also echoed the 2005 voter sentiment by criticizing the National Democratic Party led government's suppression of the opposition.

“We have no political life whatsoever, thanks to the regime,” al-Ghazaly continued. “We can’t even be compared with the most backward countries of the world.”

“Participation in this year’s parliamentary election is the only hope for the Muslim Brothers to get out of the predicament they are in,” he said.

Political experts say the deals the government strikes with opposition parties discourage voting.

Tagammu Party member Abul Ez al-Hariri said, as a result of the deals, opposition parties have lost their credibility and no longer play an effective role in politics. “They have become advocates of the regime,” he said.

Political analyst Amar Ali Hassan said the establishment made a deal with the MB group in 2005 to show the world it is a democratic regime. “But the group didn’t benefit from that deal,” he said.

Amr al-Hamzawy, a researcher at Carnegie Institute in the US, said the deals the government makes only alienate Egyptians. “They find no political party that expresses their thoughts,” he said.

Translated from the Arabic Edition.