Dear reader, don’t be astonished by the title as it is but the truth. Al-Nour ultra conservative party, Freedom and Justice Party and other Islamic parties can not be considered religious parties according to the constitution and law! Consequently, they cannot be banned for being religious!
They have non-Muslim members and anyone can join them without discrimination. Furthermore, their platforms don’t state clearly they aim to establish a religious state. They only talk about an Islamic reference, which is totally fine with Article II of the Egyptian constitution that says the same!
This shouldn’t be taken as contradicting banning religious political parties, as such ban restricts such parties a little. However, we should notice this is not just enough. These parties only reveals their ugly faces during election advertisement. Thus, they should be faced in several ways in order to stop ruining our lives by mixing politics with religion.
The law of banning religious propaganda in elections should be strictly applied since it was never applied under Hosni Mubarak’s regime. Moreover, the punish should be imprisonment not only a fine, as the Islamic currents do have a lot of money to pay unlimited fines.
Political fatwas should be strictly forbidden as well. Both, politicians and clergy should never give sermons during election time. Moreover, other laws like banning electoral bribes and spending limits should be strictly applied as well.
Banning the establishment of religious parties will be never effective unless other laws are strictly applied. This is a great deal for the upcoming regime. Will it play another game with the Islamists or really stop them from fooling the people in the name of Islam?
