(Adds election registration starts on Tuesday, paragraph 5)
By Cynthia Johnston
CAIRO, March 3 (Reuters) - Security forces detained dozens of members of Egypt's opposition Muslim Brotherhood in dawn sweeps on Monday targeting men who are likely candidates in local council elections due in April, the Brotherhood said.
The Islamist group said 68 people were detained in raids on homes across Egypt, from the southern province of Qena to northern towns in the Nile Delta, where the Brotherhood has a strong popular base.
Egyptian security sources put the total number of Brotherhood arrests at 66, and said the men were accused of belonging to a banned group, possessing anti-government literature and organising unauthorised meetings.
A Brotherhood spokesman said: "The aim of it all is to prevent them from entering the elections ... They don't want the Brotherhood to stand as candidates."
The arrests came a day before the start of a 10-day registration period for candidates wishing to contest the April 8 council elections.
Egypt has stepped up arrests of Brotherhood members, detaining more than 250 members of Egypt's most powerful opposition group since mid-February. Monday's arrests bring the total number held to well over 600, the group said.
A Brotherhood spokesman said those detained on Monday included activists and likely candidates in the local elections, though he declined to say exactly how many of them were planning to stand.
The Brotherhood seeks an Islamic state through non-violent, democratic means. It holds a fifth of the seats in the lower house of parliament through members elected as independents to circumvent a decades-old ban.
Egypt postponed local council elections for two years in 2006 after the Brotherhood performed better than expected in a parliamentary election in 2005.
Seats on local councils could be important to the Brotherhood on a national level if it wants to field an independent candidate for the presidency in the future.
Independent candidates for the presidency need endorsements from 140 members of local councils to run, in addition to votes from the upper and lower houses of parliament. (Editing by Alison Williams)
