HOW long can Egyptians endure living in a transitional period? When will Egypt start enjoying a fully formed political system? More than four months have passed since President Mohammed Morsi took office and the Egyptians have continued living without a constitution or a parliament. It is true that President Morsi had no hand in the non-existent constitution or the dissolution of parliament. However, he should be blamed for the delay in writing a new constitution after which parliamentary elections are to be organised to choose the new parliament. Before taking office, the President was fully aware of the defects in the formation of the present Constituent Assembly (CA) in not genuinely representing all factions of society and its lack of political balance. Before the presidential run-off, Morsi promised different civil powers to amend the CA's composition, restoring balance and societal representation and ensuring a new constitution acceptable to all Egyptians. However, no changes were introduced to the CA, which made the civil and liberal powers insist on dissolving this assembly and having a new one created by the President on a sound basis. In the meantime, some activists referred the issue to the judiciary authority to get a ruling on dissolving this assembly. The case now being seen at the Constitutional Court had been delayed until January. However, members of the CA, especially the Islamists, insist on continuing to write the constitution and have even called for presenting it to the people to vote for it endorsement before the court's session effects it de facto. This direction, which seems being blessed by the Presidency, reflects persistence in achieving a constitution that agrees with the vision of Islamists powers regardless of other parties seeking to create a civil state in Egypt. It also expresses the Muslim Brotherhood's confidence in their ability to gather uneducated people behind this constitution, depending on religious propaganda, even if articles are not included to preserve their societal rights or ensure social justice. To overcome this conflict, many suggestions have been made to the President to restore balance to the CA and the constitution, but have met no appropriate response or initiative from him. What is really frightening would be to have the constitution endorsed then get a ruling of the CA's illegitimacy. Herein, the legitimacy of the entire political system would be questioned. This should not be the case for a country that seeks to create a new political system after 60 years of military rule.
