According to an official FJP statement, the party will present a draft law outlining criteria for selecting the 100-member constituent assembly within days. According to Freedom and Justice Chairman Mohammed Morsi, the Brotherhood’s party will propose that the committee include 40 members of parliament, 30 members elected by parliament, and 30 members elected from outside. Sayyid al-Badawi, head of the Wafd party, said members of parliament should comprise no more than 25 percent of the committee and said there is widespread agreement among political forces “on the first four chapters of the Egyptian Constitution, relating to the rights, duties and public freedoms.”

ELECTIONS 

1) The Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party has won 106 seats in the Shura Council after the last and final round of polling, representing 59 percent of the upper house of parliament. The FJP and Salafi Nour Party together secured more than 80 percent of the total Shura seats.  Of the council’s 270 members, 180 are elected directly, while the remaining 90 will be appointed for six-year terms by the next president. Turnout in the elections was less than 10 percent.  [al-Ahram, English, 2/23/2012]

2) Helmy al-Gazzar, a member of the Freedom and Justice Party’s executive committee and the Muslim Brotherhood’s Guidance Bureau, said the bureau will meet in two weeks to discuss supporting a presidential candidate. Party leaders have said that the group would not support any of the existing candidates, including Islamist candidate Mohamed Selim al-Awa, and that the candidate it will finally choose will be a surprise. FJP MP Mohamed Emad Eddin said the group is against the idea of a “consensus” president who would be approved by all political forces. [al-Masry al-Youm, English, 2/23/2012] [al-Masry al-Youm, Arabic, 2/23/2012] 

CONSTITUTION: 

3) According to an official FJP statement, the party will present a draft law outlining criteria for selecting the 100-member constituent assembly within days. According to Freedom and Justice Chairman Mohammed Morsi, the Brotherhood’s party will propose that the committee include 40 members of parliament, 30 members elected by parliament, and 30 members elected from outside. Sayyid al-Badawi, head of the Wafd party, said members of parliament should comprise no more than 25 percent of the committee and said there is widespread agreement among political forces “on the first four chapters of the Egyptian Constitution, relating to the rights, duties and public freedoms.” [al-Jazeera, Arabic, 2/23/2012] [Bikya Masr, English, 2/23/2012] [al-Masry al-Youm, English, 2/23/2012] 

4) The Supreme Administrative Court has referred the parliamentary elections law – which regulated the recent elections – to the State Council over concerns that several of its provisions may be unconstitutional.  The State Council is now expected to request a decision from Egypt’s High Constitutional Court (HCC) regarding the constitutionality of articles allowing political party nominees to compete for individual candidacy seats. [al-Ahram, English, 2/23/2012] 

5) The liberal Free Egyptians Party issued a statement on February 22 calling on the Muslim Brotherhood and its Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), to reveal their intentions concerning the presidential race and their preferred candidate, warning that the party may be “setting up the political and constitutional situation in Egypt that paves the way to the domination of the Muslim Brotherhood over power in Egypt unchallenged for a long time.” [BikyaMasr, English, 2/23/2012] 

AZHAR: 

6) The Muslim Brotherhood issued a statement of support for an initiative to elect al-Azhar’s Grand Mufti (traditionally appointed by the president) and called for the development of new regulations to determine the current Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa’s successor through elections. [al-Shorouk, Arabic, 2/23/2012] 

NGO INVESTIGATION: 

7) An American banned from leaving Egypt was stopped from boarding an international flight on February 23. The passenger, Elizabeth Whitehead, was one of seven Americans listed on a travel ban issued by Egypt’s attorney general. [Washington Post, English, 2/23/2012] 

MUBARAK TRIAL: 

8) The judge presiding over Hosni Mubarak’s trial announced that the final verdict will be delivered on  June 2 and broadcast live on Egyptian television. [al-Ahram, English, 2/23/2012] 

Photo credit: Global Post.

 

Image: 134200946.jpg