Egypt's military rulers are scheduled to meet with political leaders on Sunday in a bid to end the deadlock surrounding the drafting of a new constitution, Gamal Essam El-Din reports The heads of 20 political parties, the speaker of the People's Assembly, the chairman of the Shura Council and a number of leading independent figures will meet on Sunday with Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, chairman of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), in an attempt to hammer out the membership of a new constituent assembly. The meeting is expected to end with Tantawi asking elected deputies of the two houses of parliament to hold a new joint meeting to elect the assembly charged with drafting a new constitution. The Islamist-dominated constituent assembly formed on 24 March amid fierce criticism from liberal forces was dissolved on 10 April on the orders of the Cairo Administrative Court. The court ruled that the formation of the assembly was unrepresentative, dismissing arguments that its composition could not be challenged on the grounds that "the constituent assembly is an administrative committee and its orders can therefore be appealed". In the wake of the dissolution of the assembly political leaders met with Tantawi and other members of SCAF in a bid to find a common ground between Islamists and liberals on how a new assembly might be formed. In the 15 April meeting Tantawi underlined the importance of completing a constitution ahead of power being handed to an elected president and civilian government on 30 June. "It is unreasonable and illogical to elect a president without a constitution in place detailing the duties and prerogatives of the office. The interim Constitutional Declaration, announced on 30 March 2011, is not enough to act as a constitution... it was issued as a framework for running the political affairs of Egypt only during the transitional period," said Tantawi. The Administrative Court order and Tantawi's announcement represent a victory for liberals who have long argued a constitution must be in place by the time a new president is elected. Tantawi rejected a motion tabled by the advisory council which called for a new Constitutional Declaration clarifying the way members of the constituent assembly would be chosen. The council's chairman Sameh Ashour had argued that "a new Constitutional Declaration should be issued to amend Article 60, with the objective of drawing up clear-cut guidelines on how the constituent assembly is to be formed and who will join it". Chief of staff and SCAF deputy chairman Sami Anan warned that "time is not on our side" before urging those attending the meeting to "hurry up and reach a consensus". Most liberal forces want sitting MPs excluded from the constituent assembly. "Article 60 of the Constitutional Declaration states that elected parliamentarians should meet only to select a constituent assembly, not to vote themselves onto it," argues Ahmed Said, the chairman of the Free Egyptians Party. Other liberals are willing to see some MPs joining, but place a ceiling of 20 on their number. By limiting the number of MPs liberals hope to prevent Islamist parties from translating their parliamentary majority into a majority on the constituent assembly. They are also demanding a two thirds vote in the assembly before constitutional drafts are ratified. Islamists will hold out for elected parliamentarians in the People's Assembly and Shura Council to have the final say on who should join the constituent assembly. "Article 60 of the constituent assembly is crystal clear. It tasks parliamentarians with selecting the members of the assembly," says Mohamed Mursi, chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP). "The question whether parliamentarians should be members of this assembly or not is open for debate." "The two Islamist parties in parliament -- the FJP and the Salafist Nour Party -- were elected by at least 30 million Egyptians. It is unreasonable that they should not be represented in the constituent assembly," Mursi argued. "The issue now is not who should be represented in parliament but how the new constitution is to be drafted. I think all political forces agree that the first three chapters of Egypt's former constitution -- issued in September 1971 -- must be left as they are. They deal with the functioning of the state and specify freedoms, rights and public duties." "The fourth chapter," Mursi continued, "which specifies the system of government and the duties and prerogatives of the president of the republic, will have to be redrafted. The FJP believes that Egypt should adopt a mixed parliamentary and presidential system for the time being, though eventually it should become a parliamentary democracy." Meanwhile, Al-Azhar is actively encouraging Islamists and liberals to reach a common ground on the new constituent assembly. Gamal Azza, an assistant to the Sheikh of Al-Azhar Grand Imam Ahmed El-Tayeb, said "the principles of the Al-Azhar document on Egypt's new constitution could be used as a tool to help liberals and Islamists reach a consensus over the formation of the new constituent assembly."
