CAIRO - A new constitution for Egypt is a long-term goal but for the time being changes to the present one to be announced soon will remove flaws to prepare for free elections planned for six months time, an expert said. Lawyer Sobhi Saleh, the only member of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood group on a 10-man committee proposing amendments to the constitution, said there would be a progress report later on Sunday to give details about planned changes. "A new constitution is a long-term goal. Let's first get the flaws out of the system to bring the process along. The say of the people is the most important factor in this process," he told Reuters in an interview. The army council, which took power when Hosni Mubarak stepped down on February 11, has suspended the constitution that pro-democracy protesters said was written, and occasionally amended, to ensure the president and his allies retained a firm grip on power. The council was formed by Egypt's military rulers on Tuesday and given 10 days to draw up the proposals, which will be put to a referendum within two months. The state news agency MENA had said on Saturday the committee has nearly finished its work. Saleh said drafting a completely new constitution would only be possible when there are stable political institutions and established political forces to guide the process. An amendment to allow the first multi-candidate presidential race in 2005 effectively prevented a realistic challenge to Mubarak, the ruling party candidate. Judges were increasingly sidelined from monitoring elections, that were routinely rigged. "The committee will propose amendments to article 76 allowing three ways to run for presidency. This would give the people control over the electoral process," Saleh said, referring to the article governing presidential races. He said the changes would include allowing an independent candidate to gather signatures from citizens to run, though he did not say how many would be needed. The changes would also govern rules for political parties fielding candidates. Under the suspended constitution, an independent needed 250 signatures from elected members of parliament and local councils, an impossible task as all the bodies were stacked full of members of Mubarak's National Democratic Party (NDP). Political parties could field a candidate, but most were fragmented and weak. Because of repression, any new party seeking to register needed approval from an NDP-led committee. Saleh said the committee was a technical one whose purpose was not to rewrite the constitution but is to remove "constitutional flaws" to aid the transitional period. Alongside article 76, there was an official call to change five other articles 77, 88, 93, 179 and 189. These articles cover issues such as judicial supervision of elections, presidential terms and use of military justice. "The main articles already announced will be amended but there will be suggestions to amend another set of articles that are necessary and linked to the main ones, all in the spirit of ensuring the constitution is not contradictory after the amendment process," Saleh said.
