Essam El-Erian arrives at the FJP conference for the election of a new party leader in October 2012. (Photo by Mohamed Omar) “[Prime Minister Hesham] Qandil is staying till we elect the People's Assembly, but Qandil should assess his ministers," said Essam El-Erian, vice president of the Freedom and Justice party (FJP). The statement is a part of an interview El-Erian gave to the Al-Jazeera Mubasher channel on Monday. He said that some ministers need to be removed because of their “health condition," specifically, Minister of Finance Momtaz Al-Saied. “Some ministers operate on traditional thoughts that don't fit the change towards democracy," he added. Regarding the relation between referendum results and the popularity of FJP, El-Erian said that their popularity may have inclined by no more than one or two per cent. “If we consider this referendum a test of [President Mohamed] Morsy's popularity, then it has increased by 12 per cent since the presidential elections," he said. He criticized opposition leaders, saying they despised and underestimated the Egyptian public, “you can't be a politician or lead a country when you feel that way about its people." “Those voters were affected by the propaganda campaigns against the constitution. These campaigns were supported by western powers and I have all the information to prove it," El-Erian said. He added that it was normal for people to be sceptical about the constitution, “Egyptians are facing something unknown to them, the democratic life and its applications." El-Erian also said that a national dialogue session will be held, with participation from different political groups in order to discuss proposed amendments to the constitution. “They have to agree on what needs to be amended, forward it to the president who will call for the amendments," he said. However, the constitution states that both parliamentary houses, the People's Assembly and the Shura council, have to be elected before any amendments are allowed. “The opposition's real problem with the constitution is that it has no consideration for international agreements. They want us to give up our Egyptian identity," he said. He added this was the first constitution to be drafted through true and free Egyptian will. El-Erian commented on former Presidential Candidate Hamdeen Sabahy's statement, in which he said the opposition will take down the constitution “peacefully." “Sabahy meant that the opposition will try to get the majority of seats in the next People's Assembly. If this happened then circulation of power will be achieved, and this will mean the FJP is successfully applying democracy," he said. FJP, like other parties, will be competing for 100 percent of the seats in the next People's Assembly according to El-Erian. “Alliances with other islamist parties are likely, but only those who were responsible enough to participate in the Constituent Assembly and the national dialogue," he said.
