Rifts appearing within Brotherhood’s party in Libya

Mustafa Kamel

Sharp divisions are appearing within the ranks of the branch of the Muslim Brotherhood in Libya.

This comes after a number of leaders of the Construction and Justice Party, the political arm of the group, submitted their resignations, weeks after the election of a new leadership.

These resignations reinforce tensions within the party, ahead of the general elections which are expected to be held at the end of this year.

The Brotherhood hopes it can use the elections in maintaining its presence on the Libyan political stage.

Samira al-Azaby, the party’s deputy president for women and youth affairs, submitted her resignation after she quarreled with some of the party’s leaders.

Other Brotherhood leaders submitted their resignations, including the head of the party’s Politburo, the head of the Media Section, the head of the Youth Office, and the head of the Administrative and Financial Affairs Department.

These resignations were made against the background of disagreements in visions with the current leadership of the party.

A number of those who submitted their resignations attributed their decisions to quit the party to the emergence of an extremist current within the party.

The party, they said, used to follow a flexible policy in the past.

The Justice and Construction Party held its internal elections a few weeks ago. Imad al-Banani became the new party head, succeeding Muhammad Sawan, who led the party for the past nine years.

Brotherhood breakup

The resignation of a number of executive leaders in the party exposed the enormity of differences and splits within it.

This runs counter to claims that the Muslim Brotherhood’s party is the most coherent, united and organized of all political parties on the Libyan political scene.