The newly elected members of the Muslim Brotherhood's Shura Council have decided to hold elections next week to fill a number of seats in the group's authoritative Guidance Bureau. Not all of the seats will be filled in this election as five members were already promoted to the Guidance Bureau last May. In addition, members will not vote on General Guide Mohamed Mahdi Akef's seat, as his term expires in January, said an official source at the group's Guidance Bureau. The vote will take place across several governorates including the areas of Sharqiyya, Daqaliyya, the eastern and western Delta, Greater Cairo and northern Upper Egypt, the source added. Recently, the Muslim Brotherhood has been embroiled in an internal crisis over a recommendation by the group's leader to promote Essam el-Erian to the Guidance Bureau. Observers agree that the crisis is due to historical conflicts between the wings of the organization and due to a clash between the conservatives, led by Mahmoud Ezzat and the reformists, led by el-Erian. In a phone interview from Austria, Saad el-Husseini, a member of the Guidance Bureau, told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the bureau will conduct the elections in the upcoming days, although he declined to specify a date. "The upcoming elections will be decisive in determining whether el-Erian will be named a member of the bureau," said el-Husseini, in response to a question on the current crisis. The stalemate has been resolved in accordance with the group's regulations, he added. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
