The constitutional and legislative committee in Parliament has rejected the document produced jointly by the ruling Military Council (MC) and the political parties in Egypt
The constitutional and legislative committee in Parliament has rejected the document produced jointly by the ruling Military Council (MC) and the political parties in Egypt, which stipulates the standards for selection of the members of the constituent assembly that will be tasked with drafting Egypt’s new constitution.
The parliamentary committee insisted that the document violated Article 60 of the Constitutional Declaration of March 2012 which assigned Parliament with selecting the members of the constituent assembly. The liberals, however, interpret that article differently.
“Article 60 of the Constitutional Declaration states that elected parliamentarians should meet only to select a constituent assembly, not to vote themselves onto it,” argued Ahmed Said, the chairman of the Free Egyptians Party.
Fair representation
The document stipulated membership which ensured fair representation of all sectors in the community.
Parties represented in Parliament will be allotted 37 seats in the 100-member assembly. Civil institutions, professional syndicates, judicial and religious institutions will also choose theirs. Al-Azhar will choose five representatives, and Egypt’s churches including the Catholic, Orthodox and Evangelical will choose six. Ten legal and constitutional experts will be chosen and a member of each judicial institution will also be represented in the constituent assembly.
Farmers will be allotted two constituents and workers will also be granted two seats. Public figures including women, students and the disabled will also be assigned seats on the assembly panel.
While drafting the constitution, consensus has to be reached over any single constitutional article. In case consensus cannot be reached, a two-thirds majortiy must be reached and if such a majority cannot be reached within 24 hours, then a 57-member majority out of the 100 members would be sufficient.
Assembly disbanded
Attempts by Egypt’s political elites to proceed in the constitutional-drafting process have been beset with troubles from the start.
Originally, parliament had decided that the 100-member assembly would include 50 MPs and 50 public figures from outside parliament, producing thus an assembly dominated by more than 65 per cent Islamists.
Many protested that the assembly did not reflect, and would not protect, the diversity of Egyptian society. Days after the formation of the first assembly, a mass walkout jeopardised the constitution-drafting body. Members from liberal and leftist parties, independent prominent figures and representatives of professional and trade unions as well as representatives of the Coptic Church and Egypt##s main Islamic authority, Al-Azhar, all pulled out, citing disproportionate representation.
An administrative court ruling against the domination of MPs on the original constituent assembly disbanded it on 10 April.
WATANI International
30 April 2012