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Egypt's constitution-drafting body still dogged by controversy Members of Egypt's constituent assembly remain divided on handful of red-button issues, including Article 2 of national charter and future of consultative Shura Council
Conflict continues to dog Egypt's troubled constituent assembly – tasked with drafting a new constitution – as assembly members continue to debate Article 2 of Egypt's constitution and the future of Egypt's Shura Council (the upper, consultative house of parliament). Article 2 of Egypt's 1971 constitution states that "the principles of Islamic Law" should constitute the "principal source" of legislation in Egypt. The clause as it currently stands has resulted in fierce disagreements among members of Egypt's Constituent Assembly. Salafist-Islamist forces are demanding the removal of the word "principles" from the article, so as to make Islamic Law the primary source of Egyptian law. They have threatened to withdraw their representatives from the Constituent Assembly if the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) fails to fulfil its promise to change the wording of the article. Islamists account for more than half of the 100-member constitution-drafting body. However, Deputy Shura Council Speaker Tarek Sahri told state daily Al-Ahram on Wednesday that there were "no disagreements" over Article 2, insisting that all political forces – including Islamists, liberals, socialists and secularists – agreed on the wording. "We're working on making Islamic Law – not just the principles – the main source of legislation," Sahri was quoted as saying. Civil and liberal parties, for their part, insist on keeping the article's wording unchanged to ensure the civil, rather than religious, nature of the Egyptian state. The same forces are calling for the abrogation of Egypt's consultative Shura Council, which they see as an unnecessary fiscal burden on the state. Islamist political forces, however, disagree, calling for the council's powers to be augmented. The Shura Council was inaugurated in 1980. One third of its members are appointed directly by the president, while the remaining two thirds are elected by the public. Another issue on the Constituent Assembly's agenda is the fixed 50 per cent quota of parliamentary seats reserved for farmers and workers, along with the quota for female MPs. "These quotas conflict with the main principles of democracy," said criminal law professor Fawzeya Abdel-Sattar. Egypt's Constituent Assembly continues to hold meetings despite continued uncertainty as to its future. Last month, Egypt's High Constitutional Court ruled a parliamentary elections law – which governed last year's legislative polls – as unconstitutional. The following day, the People's Assembly (the lower house of Egypt's parliament) was dissolved by order of the military. A court ruling on the constitutionality of the Constituent Assembly has been postponed to 4 September. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/46871.aspx
