The prospect for Egypt's next month elections is not promising as the government is suppressing the democratic outlets and opposition groups.
Although the legislature has some power in Egypt, the outlook for the votes "does not sound too good to me because there has been crackdown on media outlets and people's operative satellites in Egypt," African political analyst Nii Akuetteh said.
On Wednesday, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak set in a decree November 28 as the date for the country's much-anticipated parliamentary elections.
The announcement comes as Cairo continues to maintain pressure to silence critics of the government in the media and elsewhere in the run-up to the vote.
Referring to the opposition groups' stance towards the elections, Akuetteh pointed out, "The Muslim Brotherhood, by all accounts, has a lot of support across the country, but at the same time, the authorities in Cairo are suppressing them."
"The fact that ... they will run and they are predicting that they will get at least 30 percent of the votes seats, tell that they feel the support [for them] is strengthening," he added.
The opposition Muslim Brotherhood, won nearly a fifth of the People's Assembly seats in the 2005 general elections.
Despite its setback, the Muslim Brotherhood has defended its decision to field candidates, saying "participation is the best way to expose the corruption of the regime."
