Presidential hopeful Amr Moussa has renewed his call for holding presidential elections in Egypt before parliamentary elections, provided that the new president supervises the drafting of a new constitution for the country. The constitutional declaration that was issued by the ruling military council in March provided that the next parliament, which is to be elected in September, elects a constituent assembly for drafting a new constitution within six months. "Based on the constitutional declaration, the president can call for the formation of a committee to draft the constitution, then call for the election of a constituent body a month or two later to review it before it is endorsed and offered for referendum," Moussa said. "The constituent body should comprise trade unions, civil society organizations and the judiciary, and it must be elected by the people to give it strength and credibility,” he added. He said that he supports a presidential system, in which power is given to a president, as opposed to a parliamentary system that gives power to a prime minister. He also said that he does not oppose including an article in the new constitution that defines the role of the armed forces, but declined to comment on whether such an article would stipulate that the army should protect the civil state. Translated from the Arabic Edition
