Some 40 political powers, coalitions and parties refused the “monopolization of certain political powers” in Parliament to choose the members of the constituent assembly, referring to the fact that Parliament is controlled by Islamists. In a statement released on Monday, the groups dubbed Parliament's representation in the assembly as “playing with fire.” A member of the National Association for Change, Takadun el-Khatib, said that representatives from the political powers that signed the statement will hand Parliament Speaker Mohammed Saad al-Katatny a copy of the statement and relay their views regarding the assembly. Among the groups that signed the statement are the National Association for Change, the Socialist Party of Egypt, the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, the Communist Party of Egypt, the Revolution Youth Coalition, the April 6 Youth Movement and the Ghad al-Thawra Party. A number of leftist and socialist groups said it is necessary to place standards and principles on the constituent assembly, including that single trend cannot control the assembly. Socialist Popular Alliance Party leader Abdel Ghafour Shoukr said that the first standard is that the 100-member assembly contains 20 members of Parliament and 80 members from all aspects of Egyptian society elected from popular bodies like trade unions, chambers of commerce and industry. It should also include constitutional law professors, thinkers, the handicapped and Muslim and Christian men of religion. Egypt needs a modern constitution establishing a state with a democratic regime that ensures the freedom of its citizens according to international covenants and that derives its power from the people through free and periodic elections, Shoukr told Al-Masry Al-Youm. A statement from the Socialist Party of Egypt said that the assembly formation ensures drafting a constitution that achieves all the aspirations of the Egyptian people and should prevent a certain trend from imposing its political will. The statement also warned that the Islamists may attempt to control the constituent assembly through nominating representatives who are part of Islamist movements, which would produce a constitution that is not representative of wider Egyptian society. Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm
