People’s Assembly Speaker Mohamed Saad al-Katatny assigned the body’s Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee to set up new standards for forming the panel that will write Egypt’s constitution.
The earlier Islamist-dominated Constituent Assembly formed in March was suspended by a court ruling for its lack of diversity.
Katatny said that Parliament would be able to form the new assembly so that power can be transferred from the military to a civilian government by the scheduled deadline of 30 June.
Several MPs have criticized the judiciary as attacking legislative authority after the State Council’s Administrative Court nullified the Constituent Assembly earlier this month.
Freedom and Justice MP Sobhy Saleh said Wednesday that the ruling was defective and could be appealed easily, but that Parliament would abide by it.
Another prominent FJP figure, Mohamed al-Beltagy, said, “We should reach an appropriate formation for the assembly to stop outside intervention.”
Emad Gad, an MP with the Egyptian Social Democratic Party who is a Copt, called on Parliament to learn from the mistakes it made in appointing the first assembly to ensure sure they are not repeated.
Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, met on Sunday with representatives of nearly 20 parties and independent MPs to resolve the issues surrounding the assembly’s formation.Political forces are expected to meet Thursday to mull proposals for the new assembly and again on Sunday with Tantawi.
This article is an edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
