Both houses of parliament convened on March 24 to elect the 100-member constituent, which will hold its first meeting on March 28. The list of members includes 50 current MPs and 50 member chosen from outside parliament. At least 65 seats on the assembly will be taken by Islamists. Only six women and six Christians were appointed to the assembly – and three of the Christians are women. Some liberal MPs staged a walk out during the vote, in protest of the Islamists’ domination of the assembly. At least 14 non-Islamist members of the assembly have stepped down, including liberal independent Amr Hamzawy, Mona Makram Ebeid (a Coptic member of the Advisory Council), and 5 members of the liberal Egyptian Social Democratic Party. The eight members who resigned are set to be replaced by nominees on the list of alternates, topped by ten FJP MPs.
ELECTIONS:
1) The Muslim Brotherhood Shura Council held an emergency meeting on March 27 to decide whether to field a presidential candidate and to determine its final position on the upcoming presidential election. Informed sources report that if the Brotherhood decides to field a candidate, the choice is between Brotherhood Deputy Supreme Guide Khairat al-Shater and Freedom and Justice Party President Mohamed Morsy. [al-Masry al-Youm, English, 3/27/2012]
2) Leading FJP MP Mohamed al-Beltagy has challenged the Brotherhood’s decision to field a presidential candidate, saying on March 26, "I oppose the Brotherhood’s proposal to nominate a president from within the group and think that the Brotherhood should own up to its mistakes. Al-Beltagy recommended that the Brotherhood should admit that it had contributed to fostering divisions without the revolutionary movement. [al-Ahram, English, 3/27/2012]
3) Hisham Bastawisi, vice president of the Court of Cassation, officially announced his presidential candidacy as a representative of the leftist Tagammu’ Party. [al-Shorouk, Arabic, 3/27/2012]
CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY:
4) Both houses of parliament convened on March 24 to elect the 100-member constituent, which will hold its first meeting on March 28. The list of members includes 50 current MPs and 50 members chosen from outside parliament. At least 65 seats on the assembly will be taken by Islamists. Only six women and six Christians were appointed to the assembly – and three of the Christians are women. Some liberal MPs staged a walk out during the vote, in protest of the Islamists’ domination of the assembly. At least 14 non-Islamist members of the assembly have stepped down, including liberal independent Amr Hamzawy, Mona Makram Ebeid (a Coptic member of the Advisory Council), and 5 members of the liberal Egyptian Social Democratic Party. The eight members who resigned are set to be replaced by nominees on the list of alternates, topped by ten FJP MPs. [al-Ahram, English, 3/26/2012] [Daily News Egypt, 3/27/2012] [al-Ahram, English, 3/27/2012] [al-Shorouk, Arabic, 3/27/2012]
5) On March 27, leading liberal public figures and representatives and trade movements and political movements urged the SCAF to issue an addendum to the March 30 Constitutional Declaration specifying clear standards for selecting the constituent assembly. [al-Masry al-Youm, Arabic, 3/27/2012]
6) Sources close to the SCAF say the military will seeks immunity from prosecution in the new constitution, but has a “plan B” in the event that it fails to negotiate a deal with Islamists dominating the constituent assembly. The SCAF and Brotherhood have reportedly completed their own, separate versions of a constitution and are developing strategies for lobbying the constituent assembly. The SCAF is aiming to secure the establishment of a national security council headed by the president, which would include the prime minister and ministers of foreign affairs, defense and interior, as well as key military leaders. The council would have the authority to appoint all leaders in the armed forces, set and debate the defense budget and determine foreign policy. The SCAF may also seek to include additional language in the constitution shielding the armed forces from judicial oversight. The SCAF has reportedly developed a four-prong strategy to exert influence on the key political forces that will shape the constitution: 1) Salafis and fundamentalists; 2) moderate Islamists; 3) liberals ; and 4) semi-official religious establishments, al-Azhar and the Coptic Church. [al-Ahram, English, 3/27/2012]
7) The prospects for a SCAF-Brotherhood deal over the constitution appear increasingly remote after a series of provocative statements on both sides. On March 25, former Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Kamal El-Halabawi warned that if the Brotherhood continued leveling accusations against the SCAF it could lead the military to turn on the group. The Brotherhood followed up with a statement condemning what it described as "threats" to Parliament’s constitutional legitimacy and accusing the SCAF of keeping the current cabinet in place in order to "abort the revolution or orchestrate upcoming presidential elections." The SCAF responded with a statement appearing to indirectly threaten the brotherhood, warning, “We ask everyone to be aware of the lessons of history so as to avoid mistakes from a past that we don’t want to return to,” a clear reference to 1954, when a brief rapprochement between Gamal Abdel Nasser and the Brotherhood ended in a crackdown on the latter. [al-Ahram, English, 3/27/2012]
8) The Cairo Administrative Court is reviewing a case contesting the makeup of the constituent assembly filed by Hafez Abu Seada, head of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights. Seade is arguing that the fact that the People’s Assembly has elected some of its members to the constituent assembly will cause one government branch, the legislature, to monopolize the assembly. [al-Masry al-Youm, English, 3/27/2012]
9) The Wafd executive committee is recommending that its members boycott of the constituent assembly. [al-Masry al-Youm, English, 3/27/2012]
10) Fifteen political groups and movements – including the Free Egyptians, the Democratic Front and the Tagammu parties – announced the establishment of the "Constitution for All Egyptians Front," which seeks to "defend Egyptians’ right to draft a national constitution granting them their basic rights to freedom, dignity and social equality.” [al-Ahram, English, 3/27/2012]
US-EGYPT RELATIONS:
11) The State Department downplayed concerns that Islamists are dominating Egypt’s constitutional process. “We’re not going to prejudge, obviously, the work of this panel,” nothing that the new constitution will still “have to be put to referendum before the Egyptian people.” [Washington Times, English, 3/27/2012]
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