CAIRO: The National Council is set to hold a conference Tuesday with the participation of political powers and experts to unify proposed bills of constitutional principles in one document to be presented to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. The conference will discuss seven bills presented by presidential hopefuls Mohamed ElBaradei and Hisham Al-Bastaweesy, Al-Azhar, the National Reconciliation Conference, the Democratic Alliance, human rights groups and the bill prepared by the National Council. "The SCAF agreed on issuing principles governing the constituent assembly that will draft the constitution and constitutional principles in a declaration and asked us to present a unified bill," said Mamdouh Hamza, general secretary of the National Council. SCAF member General Mohsen El-Fangary said last Tuesday that the council would issue guidelines to regulate the selection of the constituent assembly that will draft the parliament. The council invited General Mamdouh Shahin to represent the SCAF, constitutional experts, presidential hopefuls, political parties, as well as the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) whose members said they were still considering their participation. "The National Council is trying to unite national powers to present a bill that enjoys public consensus but we aren't trying to replace political parties," Hamza said. He said that the new constitution must guarantee public freedoms, social justice and equality between citizens. Deputy head of the Constitutional Court, Chancellor Tahany Al-Gebaly, will present a comparative study of the bills to identify points of agreement and difference, as well as unique articles in each. Essam El-Erian, deputy head of the MB's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), had said earlier that the party won't accept any bill of constitutional principles except the one drafted by the Democratic Alliance. "We invited the MB; if they don't come it is their loss not ours," Hamza said. The National Council is calling for drafting the constitution first while the MB and FJP are calling for holding legislative elections first and then the parliament would form a constituent assembly to draft the constitution. Hamza refuted allegations that he is dominating the protests in Tahrir for his interests or that he is paying political groups to stay in Tahrir. These accusations, he continued, are an "insult to Tahrir." The National Council was formed from participants at "Egypt's First Conference" which comprised national powers and representatives of various regions in the country and called upon by Hamza.
