After 56 sometimes stormy sessions the Committee of Fifty has finalised a constitution that represents the first milestone on Egypt's post-30 June political roadmap. Committee Chairman Amr Moussa presented interim President Adli Mansour with a final draft of the constitution on Tuesday. In a session which lasted from 3:30pm until 8pm on Saturday, members had teamed up to endorse almost half — 138 articles out of 247 — of the articles. The following day, in a session that lasted till 10:15pm, four articles failed to win the required 75 per cent approval. Moussa was forced to adjourn the televised session on Sunday afternoon to hold another round of closed-door talks on articles 229, 230, 243 and 244, with 229, which deals with the electoral system, proving the most contentious. According to the article, the first parliamentary poll after the promulgation of the constitution would have been held under a mixed electoral system with two thirds of seats reserved for independent candidates and the remaining third for party-based ones. The initial draft was rejected after just 27 members out of 48 attending the session voted in favour. Eighteen voted against and three abstained. Article 229 was then amended in line with Article 102 which specifies the following conditions: “The next House of Representatives will be composed of not less than 450 deputies, elected via direct secret ballot. Parliamentary candidates must be Egyptian nationals, hold at least a basic education certificate, and be not less than 25-years-old on the first day of registration. Other conditions regarding candidacy, the electoral system and the redrawing of electoral districts will be handled in a way that ensures fair and equal representation of the population and governorates, as well as the electorate. Candidates will be individuals, from party-lists, or a mixture of both. As regulated by the law, the president of the republic has the right to appoint no more than five per cent of the members of the House of Representatives.” Though the redrafted article gained 42 votes in favour and just two against, it effectively passes the buck, leaving it up to interim President Mansour to hold a national dialogue with the aim of finding a consensus on how the poll should be held. Amr Al-Shobaki, chairman of the System of Governance Subcommittee, explained to Al-Ahram Weekly that “the committee, after more than four hours of closed-door debate, decided to leave the final say on the electoral system to the president of the republic.” “We reached this decision to avoid any accusation that the committee, some of whose members are chairmen of political parties intending to compete in parliamentary elections, teamed up to craft an electoral system that would serve their own interests.” The closed-door talks, says Al-Shobaki, saw members sharply divided over the electoral system. One group, led by Wafd Party chairman Al-Sayed Al-Badawi and supported by Mohamed Abul-Ghar, chairman of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, wanted at least two thirds of seats reserved for party candidates. Tagammu Party representative Hussein Abdel-Razek argued for the adoption of an “unrestricted or free party list system”, free of thresholds political parties must attain in order to join parliament. Representatives from new political movements such as Tamarod wanted a 100 per cent individual candidacy system. “The differences were so deep,” Al-Badawi told journalists, “that we decided the system should be decided in a dialogue sponsored by the president.” “I envisage a national dialogue, most probably after the new constitution is passed in a national referendum, to seek consensus over the new electoral system,” says Al-Shobaki. Article 230 also shared the same fate as Article 229. Again 27 voted in favour, 18 rejected it and three abstained. The draft read: “Procedures for electing the first House of Representatives will begin within a minimum of 30 and not more than 90 days from the newly-promulgated constitution being endorsed. The first parliamentary session will be held within 10 days of election results being declared. Procedures for the staging of presidential elections will begin within 30 days from the date of the first House of Representatives meeting.” Article 230 was redrafted to state that “the procedures of presidential election and parliamentary polls will begin as regulated by law, with the stipulation that presidential elections must be staged within a minimum of 30 days and a maximum of 90 days from the date of the promulgation of the new constitution.” Any timetable for parliamentary elections is now on hold. This has the advantage, says Al-Shobaki, of allowing the president time to reach a consensus over the electoral system. Many analysts now expect presidential elections to be held before parliamentary polls. Several committee members — including some party heads and representatives of movements like Tamarod — proposed that the Committee of Fifty urge the president to hold presidential polls first. Committee spokesman Mohamed Salmawy told the Weekly that this was beyond the committee's mandate. The remaining articles — 243 and 244 — were left intact. Article 243 specifies that “the state will ensure the fair representation of workers and farmers in the first House of Representatives to be elected following the promulgation of this constitution and as regulated by law.” Last-ditch efforts to reinstate the long-time quota of 50 per cent of parliamentary seats for representatives of workers and farmers failed to gain consensus, says Al-Shobaki. Article 244 obliges the state to guarantee “fair representation of the young, Christians and the handicapped”. Moussa held a plenary televised session with members on Monday and heaped praise on the new constitution. After presenting President Mansour with a final copy, Moussa stressed that “neither the presidency nor the army had a hand in drafting the text.” “Instead of disseminating false news about the new constitution the public must mobilise to vote yes and move the country forward on the road of democracy, put an end to political sedition and rise to the many coming challenges,” Moussa said. He argued that “the new constitution represents a radical change from the 2012 document drafted by Islamists, especially in terms of granting greater freedoms and instituting social justice.” Salmawy told Monday's televised session that the new constitution is “the best in Egypt's modern history”. “This constitution represents a milestone between an age of troubles and an age in which we hope complete stability will return,” claimed the spokesman. Workers' representative Ahmed Khairy said “although workers and farmers did not get everything they wanted, they view the new constitution as the best guarantee of their rights.” He revealed that “procedures aimed at setting up a new workers party are already in the making.” Cinema director and committee member Khaled Youssef said the constitution “realises possible — rather than absolute — dreams”. Tamarod representative Mahmoud Badr announced the group would launch a nationwide know your constitution. Abdallah Al-Naggar, professor of Islamic Sharia at Al-Azhar, said campaigns against the constitution were all based on lies. “This is not a constitution for a group or a tribe but for all Egyptians. Those who claim the constitution is against religions are lying.” Al-Naggar also hailed the new constitution for giving Al-Azhar a monopoly over disseminating Islam. “This will no longer be left to groups which spread a radical brand of Islam” but will now focus on a moderate and centrist ideology. Salafist Nour Party representative Mohamed Ibrahim Mansour thanked the committee “for retaining the principles of Sharia because they are what expresses the identity of the Egyptian people and the people cannot waive it.” “The constitution of Egypt states for the first time that Egypt is a civilian state and I am proud to say the chapter on freedoms and rights is much better than in free countries like France and Italy,” claimed Abul-Ghar. Ali Awad, constitutional adviser to President Mansour, noted that “the new constitution might not be 100 per cent perfect, but everyone must remember it is a human product.” Many commentators were surprised when Article 235, which obliges the coming parliament to issue a law regulating the building and restoration of churches, secured a majority in the committee's final meeting. The article reads: “After this constitution goes into effect, the coming House of Representatives in its first session must issue a law aimed at regulating the construction and restoration of churches in a way that ensures that Christians can perform their religious rites freely.” Abul-Ghar told the Weekly that the article was drafted following the request of several members. “Given that some churches suffered from destruction after former Islamist president Mohamed Morsi was ousted from office, I and several Muslim members proposed this article to ensure that Christians could exercise their rites freely and will be able to build churches without being mired in bureaucracy.” In its final version, the preamble to the constitution states that the definition of Islamic Sharia be determined according to the rulings of the Supreme Constitutional Court, much to the chagrin of the Nour Party. The preamble also states that “the constitution complements the construction of a modern democratic state with a civilian government.” The Nour Party had objected to the word civilian but a majority of members voted in favor of it. The preamble was approved by 47 members in the final vote.
