The proto-terrorist organization known as the Muslim Brotherhood may have won big in the Egyptian “elections,” but the New York Times wants to make sure we know that it has nothing to do with Islam: In Egypt, a Vote More for Change Than Faith. (Hat tip: NC.)

MAZGHOUNA, Egypt, Nov. 28 - When the Muslim Brotherhood says, “Islam is the Solution,” Osama Imam hopes they are talking about unemployment.

Muhammad Lotfi hopes they are talking about getting fresh running water into his home.

Kinawy Essam hopes they are talking about opening a youth center in this poor village, where the roads are unpaved, children run barefoot through dusty, litter-strewn streets, and dozens of young men mill around run-down coffee houses because there are no jobs.

But they were not, they say, voting for an Islamic caliphate.

“We voted for the one who can make a change,” Ali Rifaat, 25, said Monday, adding that had backed a Muslim Brotherhood candidate out of frustration at the stagnation of life in his village.

In a development that surprised even its own leaders, the Muslim Brotherhood won 76 seats in the first two rounds of parliamentary elections, including one in this village where a member of the group defeated a candidate from the governing National Democratic Party. With one more round of voting to go in December, the Brotherhood has established itself as the chief opposition to President Hosni Mubarak’s governing National Democratic Party.

But while the essence of the Brotherhood’s platform is a religious one, and its campaign relied heavily on the slogan “Islam is the Solution,” people in this village an hour south of Cairo said over and over that they had voted for the Brotherhood because they did not believe the governing party was committed to change. The religious component of the Brotherhood’s message was important to some, but in more than a dozen interviews on Monday, often held among crowds of people, everyone said that what was important was tangible improvement to their lives.