CAIRO - An MP and a member of the Constitutional and Legislative Committee (CLC) revealed on Tuesday that, as yet, there has been no agreement on the formation of the 100-member Constituent Assembly (CA) tasked with writing the new Constitution, the official Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported. In a statement to MENA, Sobhi Saleh said there are big differences between political powers over the representation of every segment of Egyptian society in the CA. “When I tried to apportion at least one seat to each segment, the committee would have exceeded 100 members,” he explained. Saleh pointed out that he has prepared a draft law, including the opinions and proposals of the experts the CLC listened to over five sessions. Meanwhile, the Free Bloc for Peaceful Change (FBPC) and the coalition of the revolutionary powers have accused the Muslim Brotherhood, who occupy more than 47 per cent of the seats in Parliament, of deliberately delaying the formation of the CA. They said that the Constitution, depending on the results of the presidential elections, will give more or less power to the Brotherhood. In a statement issued on Monday, the two powers added that the Islamists intend to draw up a constitution that would result in a parliamentary system. If the MB's candidate fails to win the presidential elections, the Government that might be formed by the majority of Parliament could be granted more powers. The FBPC warned of excluding the young revolutionaries from the CA. Both powers said that the Islamists in Parliament have tried to control the formation of the CA, while the MB delayed its formation by suspending the sessions of the People's Assembly while asking for a Cabinet reshuffle. Last month, the Supreme Administrative Court blocked the former Constituent Assembly after ruling in favour of a lawsuit questioning the constitutionality of its formation. A number of prominent lawyers filed the lawsuit against Parliament, including Gad Nasser, professor of constitutional law at Cairo University, Mohamed Shehata, head of the Arab Centre for Transparency and Integrity, Sameh Ashour, the head of the Lawyers' Syndicate, and presidential hopeful Khaled Ali. They challenged the process of forming the CA, half of whose members were MPs, arguing that parliamentarians cannot elect themselves, according to a 1994 SCC ruling. The Islamist-dominated Parliament voted on 17 March this year to allocate 50 seats in the CA to members MPs, as well as allowing MPs to choose the remaining half from outside the legislative body. The final list of members sparked uproar from among the liberal and leftist forces, as Islamists secured over 65 per cent of the seats, including 50 members of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party and the Salafist Al-Nour Party.
