Egypt's newly elected parliament is due to hold its first session on Monday, but the fate of several of its elected members who have run against their parties decisions to boycott the second round of the poll, and the parliament as a whole, remains undecided. Among them, is the lone Muslim Brother member who secured a seat in this year's parliament: the controversial Magdy Ashour.

Despite the brotherhood's decision to withdraw from the run-offs last Sunday, Ashour, the brotherhood's MP for Alexandria's Nozha constituency was announced as one ofthe winners the following day. How exactly that happened, is a convoluted story yet plagued with ambiguity and contradictory accounts from boththe Brotherhood and the various governmental bodies concerned?

Following the results of the election’s first round on November 28, the Brotherhood announced their withdrawal from the elections, and a complete boycott by all the group’s members of the runoffs. They cited wide-spread vote-rigging and rampant violence.

While question marks were raised over the seriousness of similar withdrawal announcements by other running parties, especially the liberal Wafd, the Brotherhood seemed determined to stick to their guns – none of the Brothers who made it into the second round openly questioned the group’s leadership's decision to withdraw.

Then, the day before the elections, one of the Brotherhood’s members and parliamentary candidates, Ashour, became a hot news item. His brother, Abdel Baset, reported him missing to the police, claiming that members of the MB's secret bodies had kidnapped him from his house in Cairo because he insisted on competing in the runoffs scheduled for the next day. A police statement released to the media later that day, said that the kidnappers were arrested while walking out of an apartment building in the Gleem suburb of Alexandria – Ashour in tow.

Later the same day, Ashour made a phone call to the popular television program "Egypt Today" refuting the story of his kidnapping by members of the MP. According to him, he willingly went to Alexandria to relax and escape pressure from neighbors and friends, who were urging him to compete in the runoffs despite his group's call to boycott. 

The twist to the story came during Sunday's runoffs, when Ashour disappeared again. Brotherhood sources claimed that he was detained by state security. Officials claimed the Brotherhood had him. Later that same day it was reported that he was making electoral rounds, publicly defying the MB's decision to withdraw.

According to the Coalition for Elections' Observation, which monitored the elections, Ashour was kidnapped, "not by the MB but by state bodies, which forced him to do the electoral rounds to force the group to have a member in parliament despite their decision to boycott".

What exactly happened that day remains a mystery, and Ashour himself will not clear up the matter. Shortly after he re-appeared, Ashour told various media outlets that he needs time to "settle some issues" before he can reveal the events of the day.

In the meantime, Ashour seems faced with having to choose between his seat in parliament and his party affiliation.

"He has two choices, either to continue in the parliament and achieve his political ambitions or he can resign,” says MB spokesperson Essam El Erian. "If he chooses to stay, we the brothers tell him that he does not represent us nor does he speak in our name."

There are however those who are urging the Brotherhood to back Ashour in parliament, saying that having even a single voice of the group in the House is better than none.

"No," insists El Erian. "If we wanted a representative in this parliament we would have continued. We had eight candidates who were leading in the run offs.  We do not accept having one or two seats. Either we have proper and respectable representation in parliament or none at all."

El-Erian says he believes that the Ashour saga was "sitcom made up by the regime," because they were “annoyed and shocked” by the group's withdrawal.

Yet, the group remains undecided about what to do about Ashour.

"We cannot decide anything without meeting with the man himself and finding out what exactly happened," says Gamal Nassar, the group’s media spokesperson.

Political analyst Hossam Tamam,an expert on Muslim Brotherhood affairs, said Ashour may have become a scapegoat in a political war between the MB and the regime, manipulating facts and circumstance to undermine the solidarity that the Brotherhood has so effectively portrayed. He says the Brotherhood has two options.

“On the one hand, they may see him as a useful tool to have a voice within the parliament,” he says. “On the other hand, Ashour defied them, embarrassed them and they will not take that very lightly. They like to keep a united front and not punishing him will mean that they will open the door for further discontent within the party."

"Becoming a part of the Brotherhood is often a sure way for social and political success," says Tamam. He explains, "many of their members, who succeeded previously in winning seats in parliament, do not have any political history or experience and would never have won if they didn’t use the Brotherhood as a channel."