A joint session of Parliament’s upper and lower houses was held this morning to vote on the names nominated for the membership of the 100-member constituent assembly that should write Egypt’s new constitution. By afternoon, however
A joint session of Parliament’s upper and lower houses was held this morning to vote on the names nominated for the membership of the 100-member constituent assembly that should write Egypt’s new constitution. By afternoon, however, the Constitutional Court, 12 liberal and leftist political parties and 13 public figures walked out. The reason they cited for the walkout was that the Islamist MPs persisted in their efforts to impose Islamist hegemony over the constituent assembly, excluding all other sectors of Egyptians.
The political forces which withdrew today issued a statement explaining that they walked out to protest the absence of consensus on the balanced representation required to ensure the drafting of a balanced constitution that would be an expression of the entirety of the Egyptian community.
They said several of them participated during the past few weeks in the arduous negotiations that preceded the formation of the constituent assembly, hoping to reach a reasonable agreement. “But unfortunately, all these efforts crumbled in the face of the Islamists’ obstinacy towards maintaining hegemony over the assembly, giving precedence to narrow benefits over public interest. Islamist intransigence and insistence on dominion led to the wasting of so much precious time since the initial formation of the constituent assembly which was rejected by the community and annulled by court.
“And here we are today,” the statement said, “back to Square One, after the people had held their breath waiting for a breakthrough out of the constitutional predicament.”
The statement’s signatories stressed that their main concern is that whether they are part of the constituent assembly or not, and whether the constitution is drafted within or outside of the Parliament, Egyptians get a fair, balanced constitution.
It is not yet clear, however, how the walkout will impact the constituent assembly, or whether or not it will be followed by more walkouts. Similar walkouts stripped the first assembly of legitimacy and constituted the first step towards its annulment by court order.
WATANI International
12 June 2012