Look Who's Getting Votes

Egyptian fundamentalists are gaining clout through the ballot box. Is this the future of Arab democracy?

Posters on the wall herald the march of Islam, but tonight the Cairo headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood is a different kind of war room. Essam el-Erian, chief political strategist for the banned but officially tolerated fundamentalist group, performs evening prayers with a dozen other officials and then starts working the phones like James Carville, checking on the results of the final round of the parliamentary elections held last week in Egypt. The early returns are promising. Later that evening, he heads to the Brotherhood's operations center, where banks of computers and election charts, rather than Islamic symbols, line the walls. By...

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