The parliament will be completely responsible for selecting the 100-member constituent assembly tasked to draft a new constitution, said Mansour Hassan, head of the advisory council to the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF), on Thursday evening in an interview with Al-Arabiya News Channel. "We are committed to the Constitutional Declaration," said Hassan. "The formation of the constituent assembly and the development of criteria will be conducted by the People's Assembly and the Shura Council. We have nothing to do with this issue.” According to the Constitutional Declaration issued in March 2011, the elected parliament will select a 100-member constituent assembly to draft a new constitution for the country. "Egypt has many experts who can draft the constitution in one week. And if the constitution is not completed, the presidential election will be held on time and power will be handed over at the beginning of July," Hasan added. Major General Mokhtar al-Mulla, a member of the SCAF, said in a statement to reporters on 8 December that the advisory council will approve the criteria for selecting the members of the constituent assembly. Mulla's statement was later denied by the SCAF after it angered the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, expected to win about 40 percent of seats in the People's Assembly.
