Jama’a al-Islamiya Shura Council member Assem Abdel Maged has called on President Mohamed Morsy to form another Constituent Assembly made up exclusively of Islamists in the event the existing assembly is dissolved.
“The other forces cause problems and do not agree on anything,” he said in statements to Al-Masry-Al-Youm on Monday.
According to Morsy’s Constitutional Declaration of the 12 August, the president may form a new Constituent Assembly if the work of the existing one is impeded in any way.
The constitution should be put up for public referendum 30 days after its completion, and parliamentary elections should begin within two months of its approval.
The State Council Administrative Court is anticipated to rule on Tuesday on several lawsuits filed to dissolve the Constituent Assembly that was formed in June by the Shura Council and the now-disbanded People’s Assembly.
There are 48 lawsuits against the second formation of the constitution-drafting body.
A number of citizens filed petitions arguing that the second incarnation of the Constituent Assembly violates a Supreme Constitutional Court ruling that dissolved the first panel in April for including MPs.
Earlier this month, Jama’a al-Islamiya hinted that it may be willing to resort to violence in order to see Sharia adopted in the latest draft of the constitution from the Constituent Assembly.
Jama’a al-Islamiya leader Mohamed Salah said during a conference in Ain Shams on 12 October that Egyptians should “support Islamic Sharia in the Egyptian constitution,” adding, “Jama’a al-Islamiya will fight for the application of God’s law, even if that requires bloodshed.”
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
