Muslim Brotherhood wants Egypt elections

CAIRO, Jan. 20 (UPI) -- Egypt's largest opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood, has called on the government to dissolve and for new elections to take place.

On its official Web site, Ikhwanweb.com, media spokesman Dr. Mohammed Morsy said this week the group had five demands, and urged the Cairo government to implement them immediately. Morsy said many of the country's problems would be solved and stability ensured if the government led by President Hosni Mubarak adheres to their calls.

The movement called on the government to end its 30-year-old emergency law that bans political rallies, dissolve the new Parliament and conduct free and fair elections, and amend certain laws related to the election process that will ensure fair presidential elections this year. The entire government must be dismissed and a new one formed that will respond to "the demands of the Egyptian people," the group said.

Morsy also discussed the situation in Tunisia and warned of dissent spreading throughout the Arab world because of the similarities encountered in many Arab countries. "The popular uprising against injustice, tyranny and aggression and the dignity of the Tunisian people has certainly rang a bell since the problems in Arab countries are very similar," he said.

In last year's parliamentary elections in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood failed to win a single seat, despite winning a fifth of the Parliament's seats five years earlier. The movement claimed the elections were unfair and votes rigged.