With the departure of Sadiq Al Mahdi .. Who will succeed him as leadership?

The departure of the Sudanese political leader, Sadiq al-Mahdi, yesterday, Wednesday, opened doors that had been closed for many years regarding his successor to the leadership of the National Umma Party and the leadership of the "Ansar entity", which is the religious arm of the party and its ideological reference.

Al-Mahdi passed away at the age of 85, affected by the Coronavirus that afflicted him in late October, and on November 3, he was transferred by private plane to the United Arab Emirates after his condition declined and he needed intensive care, and he remained in a hospital there under supervision, but his condition It deteriorated since last Monday, after suffering severe pneumonia, after which he was subjected to ventilators, which did not save him.

Since the party’s general secretariat issued a statement on Tuesday evening, it appealed to the party’s supporters and the people of Sudan to pray to God for the Mahdi to be cured.

Political leaders within the party moved to discuss arrangements for the organizational situation, and an urgent meeting was held to discuss the proposed scenarios, and a committee was tasked with working to closely follow developments.

The head of the political bureau of the Umma Party, Muhammad al-Hassan al-Mahdi, said to Al-Jazeera Net that "the party and the Ansar entity have elected institutions and leaders, and they are the ones who lead the situation until the conferences that will elect the new leadership are held."

When the Mahdi celebrated his 77th birthday, he told a large crowd that he was determined to leave the party leadership and devote himself to religious matters, and made it clear that the announcement of his successor would be left to whoever was elected by the party's institutions, and said that this would be a unique experience in the culture of the caliphate.

However, there are great complications surrounding the nomination of the next person to lead the party and the religious entity at the same time, according to the journalist and political analyst close to the Umma Party, Jamal Anqara, pointing out that the Mahdi has been a lot of talk recently about his desire to step down from the leadership of the party and give the opportunity to whomever the institutions choose. But he is gone before that is even completed.

Anqara believes that the complications of nominating Khalifa al-Mahdi stems from the fact that the late Mahdi was not a single person.

He is the leader of the party, the leader of the sect, the head of the Wasatia Forum, a political thinker, the author of religious jurisprudence, a cultural encyclopedia, and a first-class athlete, in addition to being the owner of "historical leadership," and no one person can cover all of these characteristics.

In his speech to Al-Jazeera Net, Jamal Anqara believes that despite the greatness of the loss, the Umma Party leaders have a ripe opportunity to re-arrange arrangements, to accommodate filling all the void left by the departure of the Mahdi.

He points out that both the leadership of the Ansar and the leadership of the party were decided early on by being elected, and that the same person is not required to be the leader of the two religious and political institutions at the same time, but because the Mahdi possessed specific qualities, he was the most appropriate to lead the party and the religious sect to more than 40 years old.

Dardiri Othman, assistant to the head of the Umma Party (Reform and Development), a movement that split from the nationalist Umma Party years ago goes;

That the Mahdi represents a great loss to Sudan, and describes him as a comprehensive politician who worked throughout his life as a fighter for freedom.

Before calling the party leaderships, the Ansar Affairs Authority, and the Mahdi family to work according to the institutional framework within the Umma Party, and to follow the Ansar Affairs Authority’s guide that the caliph should be in agreement with it in order to preserve the integrity and cohesion of the entity.

As for the member of the Umma Party leadership, Khaled Abbas, he told Al-Jazeera Net that work and arrangements are carried out according to the institution and one plot between the Ansar and the Umma Party, that those who lead them are elected according to a specific arrangement that was anticipated to deal with all circumstances.

He says, "Institutions have hierarchies, regulations and constitutions, by holding base conferences until the general conference that elects leadership," and he expected all of this to be completed by next year in the event that the challenges posed by the Corona pandemic disappear.

Al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi has led the Umma Party and the Ansar entity for 40 years, which makes it difficult to fill the vacuum he left (Al-Jazeera)

Possible nominations

Earlier it was agreed that the Mahdi would have several deputies, most notably Major General Fadlallah Barmah Nasir and Maryam Al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi, but the latter emerged as the one with the best luck in assuming the leadership of the party until the general conference.

Throughout recent years, Maryam has enjoyed strong support and support from her father, and he was keen to present her as a front for the party on many occasions and political alliances, and accordingly gained high experiences and capabilities, but she may clash with the ideological backgrounds of the Ansar entity to lead the woman in leadership, which is what Mahdi sought to fight - in What it looks like - he pays his honor to drive.

The Mahdi has two of the sons of high political qualification, Rabah and Al-Siddiq, and the latter appeared recently in political events and party meetings, and remains the closest to heading the Ansar sect, while his sister Maryam leads the political party.

On the other hand, the fortunes of Abdul Rahman, the eldest son of the Mahdi, whose father has repeatedly confirmed that he does not belong to the party, after he participated in the government of the ousted President Omar Al-Bashir, and worked as his assistant in the presidential palace.

And all the speculation so far is that the leadership will not leave the Al Mahdi family, at least during the current transition period, until the party’s general conference is held, which may pave the way for the emergence of a new leadership from outside the Mahdi family.