It is “well-known” that in Egypt elections to not count for much. Interest is even lower when one speaks of electing the members of parliament’s ‘upper house’ (majlis al shura), a body with very little power created by President Sadat in 1980. And yet, the elections held on June 1st indicate one thing clearly; the Muslim Brotherhood is experiencing a powerful crisis. According to Hala Mustafa, editor of Democracy Review published by the Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, this is not only caused by the regime’s increased opposition to the Brotherhood. “The truth,” he explains, “is that the Brotherhood is losing its political appeal” and among the young, one perceives a desire for secularism.