The Muslim Brotherhood will take part in protests scheduled for 29 July in Cairo and other governorates under the name "Friday of Stability," the group said on Sunday. The call for Friday protests was made by Islamist groups, which rebuff calls for drafting the country's new constitution before the parliamentary elections scheduled for September. In March, a landslide majority of Egyptians voted in a referendum on constitutional amendments, according to which the ruling military issued the Interim Constitution. According to the Interim Constitution, parliament elections will be organized between September and October. A panel elected by the new parliament will be tasked with drafting Egypt's new constitution. Fearing that the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest Islamist and most prepared group, will take over the next government and hence elect the panel, secularist and liberal groups demand the constitution be drafted first. They call for a document containing a set of supra-constitutional principles that secures Egypt's as a civil state. Meanwhile, Islamist groups defend the results of the referendum, especially because it resulted in preserving the prior Constitution's second article, which stipulates Islam as the main source of legislation. In a statement, the group urged Egypt's ruling the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) to confront calls for supra-constitutional principles. The Brotherhood said its participation came out of concern for preserving people's rights and its respect for the body tasked with drafting the new constitution. The statement said that Egypt is going through a process of rebirth, and that Egyptians are eyeing stability and true democracy that emphasizes their right to select their own rulers. The Brotherhood said that everybody should have abided by the results of the March referendum. In calling for the constitution to be drafted first, it said, a small number of the people disregard the public's will. The statement said such calls dodge the referendum results and violate the right of the elected panel to lay down the new constitution. The statement added that political groups are insufficiently competent to devise so-called "supra-constitutional" principles, noting that the SCAF's acceptance to go along with the idea has caused confusion and skepticism among the public. The group also slammed what it called attempts to induce division between the people and the military. It blasted protester assaults on army facilities, warning that such attacks serve the aims of domestic and foreign powers seeking to sabotage the revolution and spread chaos. Translated from the Arabic Edition
