It must be election time in Egypt. That's because political opposition candidates are getting arrested. This time around its the Muslim Brotherhood, again, considered to be one of the strongest opposition parties.

The BBC and the Middle East Times reports that 79 members of the banned party were arrested over the past three days. Two of those detained are candidates for the upcoming shura elections. According to MB representatives, the individuals are being charged with using religious slogans. Here's the Middle East Times story. And here is the Muslim Brothers' account of the arrest of one of the shura candidates.

This is a story repeated several times over the past decade. The Mubarak government's standard operating procedure has been to control the democratic process at election time through a series of attacks on opposition rallies, independent election observers, opposition press and sometimes the candidates themselves.

The people of Egypt deserve better. There are thousands of Egyptians working to have a better political system, to open it to more voices and to attempt to reach consensus in a positive political way. In the name of stability and the war on terror, we repeatedly are expected to look the other direction when these activist's efforts are thwarted by an aging and unyielding regime.