Muslim Brotherhood leader decides not to seek another term

Interesting post by Marc Lynch (Abu Ardvark) and an article in The National that Muhammad Mahdi Akef, leader/Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), will not seek a second term.

Here is another article on this in Cairo's Al Ahram.

This potentially opens the door for a reformist leader for the MB, the largest, longest running Islamic democratic reform party.

This is exciting also bc the MB actually has a democratic process of selecting a Supreme Guide, as Marc Lynch tells us:

"This announcement by the 81 year old Akef creates an extremely interesting and important moment in the history of the Brotherhood. The change in leadership has potentially wide-ranging implications for moderate Islamist movements throughout the Middle East. Will he be replaced by a politically-oriented reformist or by a religiously-oriented conservative? Will he be replaced by an Egyptian or by a non-Egyptian from the global Brotherhood movement? And will his successor retain Akef's strong hostility to al-Qaeda style jihadism and commitment to participation in the political process?

It may surprise people to realize that Akef will be replaced in an internally democratic process. As I understand the process, the Supreme Guide is elected by the Brotherhood's Shura Council, which has 100 members -- 80 of them elected by the membership of the organization and 20 of them holding ex officio membership (i.e. current and former members of the Guidance Council). Since the Muslim Brotherhood remains by far the largest and most politically significant mainstream Sunni Islamist movement, this internal election may be one of the most significant in the Middle East's so-called "year of elections."

I have posted on this before, but I see the Muslim Brotherhood (Islamic Democrats) as a potential beacon of hope for democratic rule in the region, specifically in Egypt. They have consistently participated in elections...well, when Mubarak doesn't arrest them all that is.