A source familiar with the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria said the group is preparing for an election round likely to occur in December amid a rivalry between the old leadership of the elderly and the younger generation.
The source added in a statement to Syria TV that the main problem with the leadership of the group is that it believes that its project in the seventies and eighties of the last century, and its personalities, structure and previous working mechanisms worked with outside Syria can continue in the phase of the revolution and beyond.
Decline in effectiveness and impact
The source added that this belief has clearly led to wrong treatments and approaches to reality that have brought it to what it is now a clear deficit in effectiveness and influence.
The source pointed out that “the group has been engaged during the past decade in internal conflicts. They have kept it away from the essence of its expected role.”
The source also stressed that “the role of the youth of the group has declined and fragmented under the control of the old guard, as well as the absence of youth through a clear, promising and real change project. However, everyone remained within the complex organizational calculations.”
With the arrival of Mohamed Hikmat Walid at the head of the group as Supervisor General in 2015, many expected that there would be a new change in the group’s career, especially as it broke the regional cordon in the struggle for the group’s leadership. However, this hope soon faded under the weight of internal organizational treatments to which the new supervisor seemed to have surrendered.
Are there any new leadership figures?
At the end of the electoral period of Mohamed Hikmat Walid, after exhausting his legal term for two sessions in the leadership of the group, the source said that “the conversation in the corridors of the group is about Amer Al-Busalama, the current deputy general supervisor, who failed in the elections of the previous session when he entered into a competition with Dr. Walid.
The source added that the other name suggested is Hossam Ghadban. He was deputy general supervisor in the previous session and failed in the previous elections when he competed with Walid. There are those who talk about a new name that may be different from theirs.
The source quotes some of the group’s cadres who understand the internal reality of the group and know these names. They exclude a real change or the introduction of a new project, especially since the names that are being talked about are not known to carry a change project or a new vision.
Regarding questions about the young figures in the group and their role in the near future, the source said that the names affiliated with the youth in the Muslim Brotherhood include “Molham Al-Droubi, Omar Mashhouh and Hassan al-Hashimi” who, until an earlier period, were young and influential members within the group for years. They were also known for having new ideas different from the rest.
However, these names “have disappeared in recent years and no longer appear on the scene after they have been excluded,” according to the source, who saw them as offerings of internal organizational treatments. This is a strong indication that the path to change in the group is closed.