Demands led by liberal and secular forces to draft a new constitution ahead of parliamentary elections are intensifying, with some threatening a million-man "Constitution First Friday", Gamal Essam El-Din reports Liberal and secular political activists have been up in arms over recent days, haunted by fears that the policies of the ruling Higher Council of the Armed Forces (HCAF) might end up serving the interests of Islamists, especially the Muslim Brotherhood. The National Association for Change (NAC), led by Mohamed El-Baradei, ex-chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), issued a statement this week saying: "We cannot rebuild Egypt without a solid foundation and without the foundation of a liberal constitution." The NAC sharply criticised the refusal of Islamist forces to countenance drafting a new constitution ahead of parliamentary elections planned for September. The NAC statement urged Islamist forces to set their own interests aside and work with other forces on drafting a constitution before the September elections. The NAC also submitted a letter to Prime Minister Essam Sharaf, asking him to seek a fatwa (Islamic judicial ruling) from the State Council or the Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC) on whether elections should be held first or if a constitution should be drafted first. The letter was signed by representatives of 54 political parties and forces. The NAC and other forces also said that they are planning to get signatures from 15 million citizens in a bid aimed at stepping up pressure on the HCAF to approve the drafting of a constitution first. Joining forces with the NAC, most youth movements that led the 25 January Revolution said they were contemplating staging a million- man demonstration in Cairo's Tahrir Square on 8 August under the slogan "Constitution First Friday". A coalition of seven human rights organisations has also joined the fray, urging the HCAF "to follow the example of Tunisia, by drafting the constitution first and holding the elections later". In a statement entitled, "In the Footsteps of Tunisia: Constitution first," the coalition said, "We appreciate the HCAF's wish to see parliamentary and presidential elections held as soon as possible, allowing a democratically elected civilian government and president to take over." However, the statement continued: "This scenario could cause political instability, especially as it helps one political force to dominate parliamentary and political life," referring to the Muslim Brotherhood. "This scenario means putting the cart before the horse because it will help certain forces to manipulate the next parliament for their own interests and allow the elected president to keep the draconian powers in the 1971 constitution," the statement said. In an attempt aimed at reaching common ground, representatives of 21 political parties and forces signed what is called "the National Coalition for the Interest of Egypt." The coalition, said the chairman of the leftist Tagammu Party, Refaat El-Said, is aimed at reaching a common agenda among all different political forces "on the principles of democracy, a civil state, standing in the next parliamentary elections on one list, and forming a national unity government for the next five years." It is not clear, however, whether the coalition supports drafting the constitution first or holding elections first. The Muslim Brotherhood insists that "elections be held first". Essam El-Erian, deputy chairman of the Brotherhood's newly established Freedom and Justice Party told Al-Ahram Weekly that major political forces are in favour of organising elections first. "The coalition established Tuesday is aimed at dispelling fears among secular forces and trying to reach a common ground with them, also providing guarantees that not a single force will dominate the coming elections and that all forces will be represented in the next parliament," said El-Erian. As a result, he argued, "the reasons cited by secularists for drafting a constitution first are no longer justified," and that "all now should brace themselves for the elections first." The "Constitution First" rallying call first began to gain momentum on the Second Friday of Anger organised in Tahrir Square on 27 May. Tens of thousands of youth associated with the 25 January Revolution, joined by civil society and human rights organisations, brandished placards bearing the two words. The call gained further momentum when the National Consensus Conference (NCC) organised by the government and led by Deputy Prime Minister Yehia El-Gamal concluded last week stating that, "Egypt is in pressing need of a constitution ahead of any elections, whether parliamentary or presidential." The conference's Electoral Systems Committee (ESC) recommended that "a constitution be drafted first, because this is the best guarantee against a certain force" -- widely believed to be the Muslim Brotherhood -- "imposing its Islamist ideology on the next constitution". Fears of secular and liberal forces over what this constitution might turn out to contain intensified recently when leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood decided to boycott the NCC, entrusted with drawing up guidelines for the new constitution and proposing amendments to a law regulating the next parliamentary elections and the People's Assembly. Brotherhood leaders argued that, "the conference is pointless as long as it is members of the new parliament who will be empowered with drafting the new constitution." The Brotherhood position triggered furious reactions from liberal forces, with liberal politician Osama El-Ghazali Harb charging that the "Muslim Brotherhood is now acting like Mubarak's defunct ruling National Democratic Party. The arrogance they are showing clearly indicates that they are preparing to inherit the NDP's authoritarian role in political life." Harb said that, "A united front, including a wide array of political forces, is now being mobilised to step up pressure on the government and the HCAF, and we are ready to go to Tahrir Square again to send a clear message to the HCAF that Egypt is in desperate need of the 'Constitution First' formula." Joining forces with liberals and secularists, Prime Minister Essam Sharaf said he was in favour of delaying parliamentary elections until a new constitution was drafted. El-Gamal also said when launching the NCC that the "Muslim Brotherhood refuses to participate in the conference because it is gearing up to clinch most of the seats in the new parliament and then take charge of drafting a constitution tailored to its needs and ideology, rather than to the needs and interests of Egypt as a whole." A poll conducted by two civil society organisations, New World for Development and Human Rights and the Observatory of Reform and Citizenship, reported that 83.6 per cent of those polled in six governorates had been strongly in favour of drafting a constitution first. The poll also showed that 76.5 per cent of those polled believed that liberal and secularist forces were not ready to compete against Islamists in the next elections. "These citizens said that elections first would mean that secularist and civil forces would be the biggest losers in the elections, and that the next parliament would not be truly representative," a statement from the groups said. (see pp. 2-5, 14)
