Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, the country's largest opposition group, chose a conservative member to be their new supreme guide, the group's former leader Mohammed Mahdi Akef said Saturday. Akef told reporters that members chose Mohammed Badie, a veterinary professor, as the eighth supreme guide for the movement. Badei's appointment comes after an internal dispute between the conservative and the reformist wings in the movements that took place last year.

In December, the Brotherhood said it settled the dispute by electing Essam al-Erian, commonly identified as a "reformer" within the group, to the group's executive council, ending what had reportedly been an acrimonious dispute within the group. The Muslim Brotherhood is officially banned, but makes up the country's largest opposition group and places members as MPs in the Egyptian parliament as independents.

Copyright Deutsche Presse-Agentur, 2010