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Why Islamists Are Winning Elections

(TIME) Bobby Ghosh - The Arab Fall has brought a rich harvest for political Islam. In election after election, parties that embrace various shades of Islamist ideology have spanked liberal rivals. In Cairo, disheartened liberals explained they only had eight months to prepare for elections, whereas the Brotherhood has 80 years' experience in political organization. The Islamists, thanks to powerful financial backing from Saudi Arabia and Qatar, outspent the liberals. But the Salafis had no political organization until 10 months ago, and they still managed to do well. Furthermore, a leading member of the liberal Egyptian Bloc was free-spending telecom billionaire Naguib Sawiris. Like smart politicians everywhere, the Islamists played to their strengths, capitalizing on goodwill generated by years of providing social services - free hospitals and clinics, soup kitchens - in poor neighborhoods. And they used their piety to assure voters that they would provide clean government, no small consideration for a population fed up with decades of corrupt rule.
2011-12-16 00:00:00
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