CAIRO: Egypt's military rulers announced on Wednesday that elections results indicate that parliament will not be representative enough to draft the nation's new constitution. The military council will appoint their own council set to draft the constitution, and will govern over the process. “We are in the early stages of democracy,” General Mukhtar Mulla of the interim ruling military council stated in a meeting with foreign press on Wednesday. “The parliament is not representing all sectors of society.” The announcement comes in light of the first phase of Egypt's parliamentary elections, in which Islamic parties performed exceedingly well, taking about 60 percent of the vote. According to the position of the military rulers, if a 100-person committee assembled by the new parliament drafts the constitution, as was initially determined, its legislation could alienate Egypt's liberal and Coptic Christian needs or even implement Islamic Sharia Law. Instead, the military council will coordinate with the parliament and the cabinet to ensure that all constituencies are represented, they say. Egypt's military rulers previously announced that they would name 80 of the 100 members of the committee responsible for drafting the constitution, causing a backlash from both Egypt's liberal and Islamic parties. Leaders from the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), who will hold the majority of seats in the nation's next parliament, have come out to reject the military leader's proposed oversight of the constitutional process. During the press conference on Wednesday, the military council reaffirmed that it will maintain executive authority over the new parliament and government, and that its own budget will remain independent of any parliamentary oversight. A battle over the constitution could further drive a rift between Egypt's military rulers, Egypt's Islamist parties and Egypt's liberal parties, as the nation attempts to establish its fledgling democracy. Egypt's parliamentary elections were the most free and fair in Egypt's recent history, and Egypt's Islamist parties are set to maintain their majority in the second and third phases of voting. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/xaxpG Tags: Constitution, Elections, featured Section: Egypt, Latest News
