CAIRO - As September's parliamentary elections grow ever closer, the debate over whether the Constitution or Parliament should be born first is getting more heated, if not acromonious. The Muslim Brotherhood (MB), supported by different fundamentalist factions, which have been making their presence felt since the revolution, say they won't tolerate any bid to elect the new Parliament after the creation of the new constitution. The Brotherhood say that the nation's will, entrenched in the results of March's referendum on the constitutional amendments, should be honoured. The Brotherhood and its supporters are hoping to win a majority of the seats in the new Parliament and this would entitle them to form the ad hoc committee that will suggest the articles in Egypt's new constitution. However, the Brotherhood's enthusiasm to vote in parliamentary elections before the new constitution has been created is strongly opposed by political movements and the young demonstrators, who sparked the revolution and many of whom were martyred for the people's freedom. These political movements and young demonstrators stress that the Constitution gives birth to all authorities in the State, such as the legislative authority (Parliament), the executive authority (the Government) and the judiciary. The pro-Constitution factions are trying to persuade the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to ruling adopt their point of view. The SCAF wants to be neutral and emphasise its integrity by refusing to intervene with a heavy hand in this heated argument and favouring one party against the other. What comes first, the chicken or the egg, the Constitution or Parliament? The nation's dispute about this could soon become an unhappy one. None of the sparring parties is prepared to budge. We cannot predict what will happen, but the nation's supreme interests will surely influence the Armed Forces' final decision.
