LONDON, Aug. 9 (UPI) -- Egypt's banned Muslim Brotherhood is voting in the "biggest secret ballot" by the group on whether to boycott the presidential election, a report said Tuesday.
The London-based al-Quds al-Arabi daily quoted the deputy head of the Islamist movement, Mohammad Habib, as saying the vote by members across the country reflected the Muslim Brotherhood's "deep belief in democracy."
While he did not give details on how the secret referendum was being carried out, Habib told the independent Palestinian-owned newspaper his group had "paid a high price" at its general assembly meeting in 1995 to choose its leader, when authorities cracked down on its members and arrested many of them.
The report said the Muslim Brotherhood was divided over whether to participate in or boycott the presidential polls next fall, adding that the poll would determine the position of the group in the next few days.
