As the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) maintains the suspense about when exactly parliamentary elections will take place, Egyptian political parties and activist groups are laying out their visions for the course Egypt should take.
Al-Azhar has issued a document in which it outlines its vision of a “constitutional, democratic and modern state based on a constitution approved by the nation, which separates the three branches of power, delineates the scope of the ruling power and guarantees rights and freedoms for all on an equal footing.”
The eleven points listed in the document underline the importance of freedom of thought and expression and the right to information. It also emphasizes freedom of religion, protection for places of worship and the right to practice religious rites, but reserves these rights to “followers of the three heavenly religions”.
The National Accord Conference, led by Deputy Prime Minister Yehia al-Gamal has yet to publicly release the full list of recommendations it has sent to SCAF. According to Al-Akhbar Al-Youm, however, some of the recommendations include a ban on members of the dissolved National Democratic Party taking part in political life for five years and the removal of the women’s quota in the People’s Assembly.
The debate over whether the constitution should be drawn up before elections rages on. In a statement issued earlier this month, the Youth of National Association for Changeurged the SCAF to draw up a draft constitution before the parliamentary elections scheduled for some time in September.
Under Article 60 of the Constitutional Declaration issued by the SCAF in March, a 100-member committee drawn from members of the People’s Assembly and Shura Council will draft a constitution within six months of elections, and upon the SCAF issuing an invitation. The draft will then be voted on in a public referendum.
The Youth of National Association for Change Youth says that drawing up a temporary constitution and then replacing it with a new, permanent constitution will “take Egypt into a labyrinth of formation and reformation of state institutions.”
The group rejects suggestions that voters in the referendum who said yes were voting in favor of elections before the constitution for two reasons. Firstly, they say, discrepancies between Article 189 as it appeared in the referendum and the version of it as it appeared in Article 60 of the Declaration indicates that SCAF dealt with the referendum results in a “selective manner” and that the Declaration’s binding authority, rather than being the people’s approval in the referendum is in fact “the fact that it was issued by SCAF.”
Secondly, the Youth of National Association for Change Youth says, those who voted yes in the referendum were voting in favor of the 1971 Constitution coming back into force, but “instead the constitution as a whole was abrogated and replaced with the Constitutional Amendment issued by SCAF.”
The Free Egypt Party views the matter differently, as do the Wasat, Justice, and Civilization parties. In a joint statement issued last week, they called on political forces to “respect and commit to the course chosen by the majority of citizens, and that is that parliamentary elections should he be held before a founding committee is formed to put in place a new constitution.”
“You cannot make Egyptians feel that their vote doesn’t count in the first election,” Free Egypt Party founding member Shahir George explained to Al-Masry Al-Youm, adding that the priority for political parties now must be on reaching a consensus about fundamental constitutional principles and ensuring a fair representation for minorities in the committee that will draft the constitution.
The content of the constitution itself is the concern of two groups working on drafts.
The Popular Committee for the Egyptian Constitution announced its “Revolution Constitution” on Saturday. Committee general coordinator Mahmoud Abdel-Rehim explained that the draft reduces presidential powers and “realizes true balance between the three branches of power.”
Article 2 of the draft amends the controversial provisions of the 1971 Constitution, which stipulated that Islam is the religion of state and Sharia the principle source for legislation.
The Popular Committee’s Article 2 states that Islam is the “religion of the majority of Egyptians” and that “Sharia is a principle source for legislation.” The draft article adds that members of other religions are governed by their own religious laws.
Explaining the article, Abdel-Rehim said that “the state does not have a religion because the state is a legal entity not a real person. Many Egyptians are non-Muslim or don’t consider themselves as belonging to any religion. They must be taken into account because we are drafting a constitution for everyone, not just the majority.”
“A sample poll was conducted on Article 2, and more were in favour of the revised article. People now want to reach a consensus, and I think this article satisfies everyone,” Abdel-Rehim added.
The Popular Committee is also firmly in the constitution-first camp. Abdel-Rehim says that they are “applying pressure via all possible means for a constitution to be drafted first.”
Committee member and political sociologist Said Sadek points to the example of Tunisia, where the constitution is being drafted before elections are held.
“Tunisia didn’t create its institutions first and then write the constitution. Everywhere in the world they begin with the constitution and then create institutions,” Sadek said.
Abdel-Rehim said the situation is one of “people being frightened with talk about the security situation and the economy” and as a result the “demand for democracy being put on hold.”
“Do we want reform within existing institutions – as the SCAF and Islamic parties want – or real reform that responds to revolutionary demands? Are we in a revolution or are we reforming within the regime?”
Ahmed Ragheb, director of the Hisham Mubarak Law Center and instigator of the “Let’s Write Our Constitution” initiative says that the elections-or-constitution-first debate is not a priority. He says that the aim of Let’s Write Our Constitution is to draft a document from “the bottom up” – by talking to people about what issues they see as the priority, rather than leave drafting in the hands of the intellectual elite whose “priorities are different to those of ordinary people.”
Ragheb explained that volunteers will listen to people in governorates throughout Egypt, as well as working with existing groups, such as popular committees formed during the revolution. Two or three representatives from each governorate will come together to form a general assembly responsible for putting together a draft document.
Ragheb made reference to an article published by activist Alaa Abd al-Fattah in which he described how in 1955 thousands of volunteers collected “freedom demands” from South Africans across the country. Their responses went on to form the Freedom Charter, which in turn supplied many of the provisions included in the country’s constitution after the end of apartheid.
