Head of the Ghad Party and former presidential hopeful Ayman Nour said on Thursday that Ahmed al-Tayyeb, grand sheikh of Al-Azhar, should lead the constituent assembly that will draft the constitution. He added that Al-Azhar must be represented in the constitution because of its imminent position in Egypt and the world. Nour said that the document proposed by Tayyeb in January, known as the “Basic Freedoms Document” should be endorsed by political powers and should be included in the new constitution. He said that the document is representative of moderation and liberalism. It includes articles that call for freedom of belief, opinion, expression, scientific research and the arts. The document was welcomed by several political forces. Tayyeb said that Al-Azhar defends a moderate line of thought, not a certain individual, and is impartial towards all political parties and presidential candidates. According to the Constitutional Declaration accepted in March 2011, Parliament is tasked with putting together a 100-member constituent assembly that will draft the new constitution. There have been disputes recently about how Parliament will be represented in the assembly, especially as Islamist parties won a majority of seats in both houses of Parliament. Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm
