Sunday, January 17, 2010
CAIRO: Egypt's main opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood, named conservative Mohammed Badie as its new leader on Saturday, in a move analysts said signals a switch to a less active role in politics.
Badie, a veterinary professor at a southern university, was "chosen by consensus by members of the consultative council," his predecessor Mohammed Akef told a press conference in Cairo.
The Brotherhood, is officially banned but controls a fifth of seats in the Egyptian parliament after it ran independent candidates in the last general election in 2005.
Badie told reporters that the Brotherhood rejected violence and aimed to achieve gradual reforms.
"We believe in incremental reform, and that takes places in a peaceful and constitutional way. We reject violence and denounce it in all its forms," the new leader said.
The group has affiliates in other Muslim states, some with official status. Egypt's Brotherhood leader is in theory the movement's chief on the international front but groups in other countries are autonomous in practice.
The choice of Badie, the group's eighth supreme guide since it was founded in 1928, signals a return to a less high-profile public role than in the last poll when the Brotherhood's supporters fielded 160 candidates, analysts said.
Born in 1943 in the Nile Delta town of Mahalla el-Kubra, Badie was jailed for nine years in the 1960s after being accused of membership of a Brotherhood paramilitary cell that allegedly planned the overthrow of the government.
He later became responsible for ideological education in the group.
CAIRO: Egypt's main opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood, named conservative Mohammed Badie as its new leader on Saturday, in a move analysts said signals a switch to a less active role in politics.
Badie, a veterinary professor at a southern university, was "chosen by consensus by members of the consultative council," his predecessor Mohammed Akef told a press conference in Cairo.
The Brotherhood, is officially banned but controls a fifth of seats in the Egyptian parliament after it ran independent candidates in the last general election in 2005.
Badie told reporters that the Brotherhood rejected violence and aimed to achieve gradual reforms.
"We believe in incremental reform, and that takes places in a peaceful and constitutional way. We reject violence and denounce it in all its forms," the new leader said.
The group has affiliates in other Muslim states, some with official status. Egypt's Brotherhood leader is in theory the movement's chief on the international front but groups in other countries are autonomous in practice.
The choice of Badie, the group's eighth supreme guide since it was founded in 1928, signals a return to a less high-profile public role than in the last poll when the Brotherhood's supporters fielded 160 candidates, analysts said.
Born in 1943 in the Nile Delta town of Mahalla el-Kubra, Badie was jailed for nine years in the 1960s after being accused of membership of a Brotherhood paramilitary cell that allegedly planned the overthrow of the government.
He later became responsible for ideological education in the group.
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