In other cheerful news for the progress of democracy in the Middle East, the Muslim Brotherhood, which the U.S. and Egypt agree is a terrorist organization, mounted the only effective opposition to Mubarak’s ruling party, winning a sizable number of seats in the face of violent attempts by the security forces to prevent voting by opposition parties. The government reacted by arresting 200 Muslim Brotherhood leaders and threatening to prosecute judges who complained about violence at the polls.
What to do when terrorists win elections is a genuinely hard problem. One way not to have that problem is to allow non-terrorist political opposition to flourish.
