Political parties have agreed in principle to grant the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party and the Salafi Nour Party 22 seats out of 100 on the Constituent Assembly that will draft Egypt's new constitution, according to MP Wahid Abdel Meguid, coordinator of the FJP-led Democratic Alliance.
Abdel Meguid, who is a member of the mediation committee that is working to end the impasse over the assembly’s makeup, said the parties involved in the mediation have agreed to grant 15 seats to the FJP, seven to the Nour Party, and four to the Wafd Party out of the 40 seats to be occupied by political parties.
Abdel Meguid's announcement reverses his earlier statement to Al-Masry Al-Youm that attendees of the mediation meetings had agreed that parliamentarians would not sit on the Constituent Assembly.
The Islamist-dominated Constituent Assembly formed in March was suspended by a court ruling for its lack of diversity.
Abdel Meguid said that a meeting between the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces and political parties has been postponed until Friday in the hopes that consensus can be achieved on the final formation of the assembly before the meeting.
He noted that participants in the mediation sessions have agreed to include moderate public figures and legal experts who are not affiliated with particular political movements.
Adel Afify, chairman of the Salafi-led Asala Party, refused to comment on Abdel Meguid’s statements, arguing that the political parties involved in the mediation had agreed not to disclose any information about the meetings’ details. He called upon the SCAF to immediately intervene to end the impasse which, he said, has reached a dead end.
“If we leave the issue to negotiations between political parties, we will not settle on the formation before two years,” he said.
Edited Translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
