The latest attempt to reach an agreement that will allow a new constitution to be in place ahead of presidential elections ends in deadlock, reports Gamal Essam El-Din Hopes that Egypt's post-25 January Revolution would be in place ahead of presidential elections scheduled on 23 and 24 May were again dashed this week. On 28 April a seven-hour meeting between the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) and the chairmen of political parties ended in a six-point deal. Secular and Islamist forces, led by the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), agreed that the formation of the 100-member constituent assembly tasked with writing the new constitution should begin soon to replace the Islamist-dominated assembly that was dissolved by judicial order on 10 April. Under the new deal instead the assembly would comprise 37 representatives of political parties and 63 public figures. "The latter will include four from the Sunni Islam Institute of Al-Azhar, six from the Coptic, Catholic and Anglican Churches, 10 professors of constitutional law, four representatives of the main judicial authorities and four representatives of farmers and workers," said independent MP Mustafa Bakri. "The 63-member list would also include representatives of student organisations, women and handicapped people." During the meeting, SCAF chairman Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi warned that the failure to complete a constitution ahead of the presidential poll could have dangerous consequences. "We do not have much time to waste and we do not want to resort to any other options to form the constituent assembly," Bakri reported Tantawi as saying. The comments have been interpreted as an allusion to the possibility of SCAF amending Article 60 of the Constitutional Declaration issued in March last year and stripping parliament of the right to form the constituent assembly. It is something that the FJP will resist. "The Muslim Brotherhood's party," says Tagammu head Rifaat El-Said, "is adamant that the Islamist-oriented parliament retains the upper hand in writing the new constitution. The FJP is desperate to force through an article that would prevent parliament from being dissolved on any grounds." Though two FJP representatives, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee Essam El-Erian and parliamentary spokesman Hussein Ibrahim, attended the 28 April meeting, within 24 hours the FJP was denouncing its conclusion. The Islamist-dominated People's Assembly Legislative and Constitutional Affairs Committee, led by Mahmoud El-Khodeiri, said "the deal with SCAF represents an aggression against parliament's will and constitutional rights". He blamed "representatives of political parties who know quite well that parliament is empowered by Article 60 to form the constituent assembly" of deliberately undermining parliamentary sovereignty. FJP MP and Deputy Chairman of the Legislative and Constitutional Affairs Committee Sobhi Saleh insisted "the deal concluded on 28 April between SCAF and political parties is not binding on parliament". "Those who attended the meeting with SCAF are not representative of the Egyptian people who in a referendum last year voted to entrust MPs with selecting who should draft the new constitution," said Saleh. He added that the FJP parliamentary speaker Saad El-Katatni and chairman of the Shura Council Ahmed Fahmi had refused to take part in the meeting "because they knew it was an aggression against parliament's authority". Sobhi, however, indicated that the deal with SCAF should be officially sent for discussion before parliament's constitutional and legislative affairs committee. "The only thing I know is that I entrusted parliament's Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee to hold hearings on how the constituent assembly mandated to write the constitution should be formed," El-Katatni told parliamentary correspondents on 30 April. He argued that the committee should be allowed to finish those hearings, despite the fact that they have been boycotted by eight political parties. "The meetings," says Ayman Nour, chairman of Ghad Al-Thawra Party, "are a joke. They will never lead to tangible results." The Legislative and Constitutional Affairs Committee's response to the 28 April deal, which the Tagammu's Rifaat El-Said says was agreed by the two FJP MPs in attendance, is cited as evidence of the Brotherhood's determination to pursue its own interests at the expense of any consensus. Chairman of the advisory council and Bar Association head Sameh Ashour joined El-Said in criticising the party politicking of parliament's Islamists. "Parliament's decision to suspend its activities for one week and oppose the 28 April deal with SCAF is a reflection of Muslim Brotherhood, not national, interests," said Ashour. He condemned the inability of FJP MPs to accept that a way must be found to escape the current political paralysis. "Aware of just how unpalatable other political forces found their packing of the constituent assembly, still parliament's Islamists seem unable to accept they should have done things differently." As Al-Ahram Weekly went to press on Wednesday secular forces, led by the Egyptian Bloc parties, were calling for a general conference to denounce the FJP's rejection of the deal agreed on 28 April.
