The Muslim Brotherhood made a big mistake by nominating Khairat al-Shater for president, MP Amr Hamzawy said in an interview published by a Kuwaiti newspaper Wednesday.
“It’s not in the Islamists’ favor if the new president is an Islamist,” he reportedly said.
In an interview published in the paper Aljarida, Hamzawy called on the majority to “think rationally about the presidency issue,” saying that neither the Brotherhood nor its Freedom and Justice Party would benefit from monopolizing political life and controlling executive and legislative institutions.
Hamzawy said he would not return to the constitution-writing committee, which he described as “legitimately incomplete.” He referred to reservations he expressed during the joint meeting of the People’s Assembly and the Shura Council over procedures and methods of electing public figures from outside Parliament.
The problem, Hamzawy said, cannot be resolved by replacing the members who withdrew, because those who withdrew represented major institutions such as Al-Azhar, the Coptic Orthodox Church, the Supreme Constitutional Court, syndicates and civil society organizations.
“I don’t want to be in a committee where representation of women, youth, Copts, civil society and human rights organizations is weak,” the independent MP said.
Rejoining the assembly, especially after the Cairo Administrative Court halted its formation Tuesday, depends on a discussion of MP representation on the panel, Hamzawy said.
He said the Supreme Constitutional Court should review the draft of the constitution before it is put to a referendum.
Parliament’s performance is still not at the level it should be, he said.
“Time is being wasted. Important issues haven’t been resolved yet. Parliament works with a government that doesn’t help it perform its monitoring role. [The government] doesn’t accept being questioned by Parliament,” he said.
Hamzawy said the non-Islamist parliamentary bloc works more efficiently but still needs to improve.
Translated from MENA
