A document published by Mohamed El-Baradei outlining the rights and freedoms any new constitution should enshrine is provoking heated debate, reports Mohamed Abdel-Baky Presidential candidate Mohamed El-Baradei, former director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), last week published a paper outlining his views of what Egypt's new constitution should look like. The document, says El-Baradei, is intended to promote a consensus among political forces over the basic rights and freedoms any new constitution must include. The 11-article document is divided into two sections. The first discusses the basic principles regulating Egypt's political system, the second the human rights and freedoms Egyptians should enjoy. "The state [must be] a democratic republic based on citizens' rights and popular sovereignty exercised through an elected parliament formed via fair and transparent elections held on the basis of secret ballots and providing equal representation without discrimination," says the document. Since his retirement from the IAEA in 2010 El-Baradei has called repeatedly for a democratic presidential system that divides authority equally between the executive, legislative and judicial. The document confirmed the current formula, stating that Islam is the religion of the state and Arabic its official language, and the principles of Islamic Sharia law are the main source of legislation. By including Article 2 of the 1971 constitution verbatim, El-Baradei is clearly seeking to draw a line under the allegations levelled by some Salafist groups that he is promoting a Westernised, secular agenda. "We have been asked hundreds of times since the start of El-Baradei's campaign what he thinks of Article 2 of the constitution. Now people have an answer," said a senior member of El-Baradei's campaign. Some, though, see his approval of Article 2 as an attempt to woo Islamist groups into supporting his presidential bid. "El-Baradei is seeking the support of the Muslim Brotherhood," charges Tagammu head Rifaat El-Said. "I find the document a threat to the civil state." The document avoided any mention of the longstanding ban on religious parties, saying only that Egyptians should be free to form political parties that "do not contradict the principles cited in the document". "I am ready to discuss the document with any political group. Nobody can be excluded in a democratic system," said El-Baradei in an interview with popular Muslim preacher Amr Khaled. In a message posted on his Twitter account El-Baradei stressed that the principles outlined were not an invention of his own, and that they were intended to create a bridge between political forces at a critical time. The document rules out any political role for the military, which must act only to "defend the independence and integrity of the nation against external threats" and effectively criminalises any "institution within the state" that threatens the democratic system. El-Baradei clearly intended such provisions as a riposte to those commentators arguing that the military should be constitutionally mandated to act when it perceives a threat to the civil state, an idea currently being promoted by Nasserist Party leader Abdel-Halim Qandil. The document guarantees freedom of religious doctrine and practice as long as their exercise does not violate the rights of others, and includes the formula that "every citizen will abide by a personal status law which suits his or her beliefs without jeopardising the rights of others". "We urgently need efforts to minimise the gap between political forces," says George Isaac, a member of the National Association for Change (NAC). Isaac points out that the ideas contained in El-Baradei's document are not new. The NAC and other groups have issued similar recommendations though, says Isaac, though they failed to glean the kind of media attention El-Baradei commands. In a poll conducted by the Higher Council of the Armed Forces on its Facebook page El-Baradei emerged as the front running presidential candidate. Over 40,000 people voted for him in the first 24 hours of the poll. Islamic thinker Mohamed Salim El-Awwa came second, with 19,000 votes, while Amr Moussa won just 7,000. El-Baradei has said he is willing to discuss the document with all political players, including the Brotherhood and Salafist groups, leftists and liberals. "The dignity of the people should be protected regardless of their affiliations," he said.
