Members of Egypt's new parliament will not take part in writing the country's new constitution, according to a member of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) advisory council.
The new MPs' role will be limited to approving the selection of members of the constituent assembly that will be tasked with drafting the constitution, Mohamed Abdel Meguid Borghosh, a member of the advisory council, said in an interview aired Friday on Al-Hurra, a satellite channel.
Liberal and secular forces fear that Islamist parties will dominate the writing of the constitution in light of their recent successes in the ongoing People's Assembly elections, which kicked off on 28 November.
Borghosh said the advisory council's next meeting will tackle the standards for electing the 100 figures who will serve on the constituent assembly.
He added that parliamentarians will not join the assembly, noting that all sectors of Egyptian society will be represented by those tasked with drafting the new constitution.
"The legitimacy of the new parliament is above that of Tahrir Square and all other street protests," Borghosh said. "Demonstrations must be stopped so that the new parliament can play its role. Tahrir Square is not Egypt."
Borghosh called demands to move up the date of the presidential election and shorten the transitional period illogical, saying that these moves would contradict with the Constitutional Declaration issued by the SCAF in March.
According to the Constitutional Declaration, after the People’s Assembly and Shura Council, the lower and upper houses of parliament, respectively, are elected, the new parliament will elect a panel to draft the new constitution, the constituent assembly. Presidential elections will be held after this process has been completed.
Borghosh stressed that Shura Council elections should begin at the end of January as scheduled so that political parties to have a chance to strategize and reorganize after the People’s Assembly elections.
Earlier this month, SCAF member General Mamdouh Shahin stressed that the new parliament will be exclusively responsible for the formation of the constituent assembly.
Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm
