Informed sources report a growing rift between the Muslim Brotherhood and the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) over the military council's alleged intention to appoint the members of the constituent assembly tasked with drafting the new constitution after the parliamentary elections. According to leaks circulated in the media last month, the SCAF is considering appointing all 100 members of the constitutional committee, whereas the Brotherhood continues to insist that it should be appointed largely from among those elected to parliament in the coming elections. The sources also said that Ali al-Selmy, deputy prime minister for political development and democratic dialogue, has suggested a compromise, whereby 50 percent would be appointed from among the new MPs and the 50 percent chosen from outside parliament. So far, there has been no agreement to his suggestion. Article 60 of the Constitutional Declaration issued by the military earlier this year states that the constitutional committee should be comprised of 100 members elected by parliament. The committee would be tasked with preparing a draft constitution within six months, to be put forward in a referendum for the people to vote on. Since the Constitutional Declaration, however, the SCAF has consulted with various political forces on constitutional issues, some of whom have expressed concerns that a constitution drafted on the basis of the next parliament might not reflect the wide variety views in the population or the intentions behind the revolution. The Brotherhood had also differed with the military council over the creation of supra-constitutional principles to be established before the constitution is written, as well as the new law on electoral constituencies. Translated from the Arabic Edition
