CAIRO: Mohamed Habib, deputy supreme guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, resigned from his posts in the group in opposition to the recent Guidance Office elections, from which he was left out.
Habib resigned from his positions as deputy supreme guide, member of the MB’s International Guidance Office and member of the International Advisory (Shoura) Council for the group.
He also stated in his resignation that he does not want to be nominated for the position of Supreme Guide, which the Guidance Office is currently mulling and is expected to announce before Jan. 13.
Early last week, the Muslim Brotherhood elected 16 new members to its Guidance Office who will lead the group for a four-year term. The Guidance Office is the group’s highest authority, and is headed by the Supreme Guide, a post currently held by Akef.
The new members include prominent Muslim Brotherhood members Mahmoud Ezzat, Essam El-Erian and Saad El-Katatney. Abdel-Moneim Aboul Fotouh and deputy leader Habib are not part of the new board.
At the time, numerous reports tipped Habib to be the group’s next supreme guide.
According to Hussein Ibrahim, head of the MB’s parliamentary bloc, Habib had to resign from his position as the deputy supreme guide because it is mandatory that the person holding this title be a member of the Guidance Office.
On the group’s official website, Supreme Guide Mohamed Mahdi Akef said that while Habib is “a dear friend and colleague, the resignation of any MB member, even if it is the Supreme Guide himself, will not affect the group.
“No words can express our gratitude and respect towards Habib; and although we did not want this resignation, it was necessary as he couldn’t be a deputy supreme guide without being a member of the Guidance Office. Unfortunately he said he didn’t want to be elected as the Supreme Guide. However, we hope he remains an active member of the Muslim Brotherhood because he is truly a great person, Ibrahim said.
Habib had told Al-Jazeera that he intended to dispute the decision to speed up the process of choosing a new Supreme Guide because he was not informed of the new appointments. He also told Egyptian daily Al-Shorouk that there was a split in the Brotherhood between a group that demands a more active role on Egypt’s political scene and another that wants to maintain the status quo.
“The rifts within the group are very serious, Amr Choubaki, an analyst with Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies told AFP.
“Most of the group are conservatives who have little political experience outside the Muslim Brotherhood and rely on religious documents to provide political guidance, Choubaki said.
Others, including Habib and Aboul Fotouh, have called for more participation in mainstream politics which has become a contributing factor to their being sidelined, he said.
