Reactions to yesterday’s elections of the constituent assembly that will write the new constitution take up the lion’s share of most dailies. The privately owned Al-Shorouk leads with: “The constitution is in the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafis,” in reference to the outcome of the poll that ensured the Brotherhood’s and the Nour Party’s lawmakers 25 and 11 seats respectively out of the 50 allocated to MPs, according to the paper.
The secular Wafd Party got only three seats and the Egyptian Social Democratic Party two. The Nasserist Karama, the ultra-orthodox Construction and Development, the liberal Reform and Development and the Free Egyptians parties got one seat each. Independent MPs got four , adds Al-Shorouk.
Yet the poll did not go smoothly. At least three secular parties, including the Free Egyptians, the Egyptian Social Democratic and the Socialist Alliance parties, withdrew from yesterday’s meeting. Angry MPs had expressed their opposition to attempts by Islamist parties to rush the election process and to monopolize the writing of the constitution. They dismissed yesterday’s poll as “a play,” according to the paper.
These developments were enough for Al-Tahrir to describe yesterday as “a black day” in the history of Egypt. The paper decries the inclusion of a very small number of people from outside the Islamist bloc. The privately owned daily reports that the assembly includes only six women, six Copts, two leftists, four members of professional associations and no revolutionary youths. The paper adds that the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, which holds the largest number of seats in Parliament’s two chambers, had distributed to its members and Salafi MPs a list of the hundred names they should vote for. Confusion and chaos closed off the avenue to any serious debates in yesterday’s session, adds the paper. In the meantime, Al-Tahrir emphasizes the rallies that took place outside the hall where MPs were meeting yesterday in Nasr City, to protest the Islamist domination of the constituent assembly.
The Brotherhood’s mouthpiece newspaper, Freedom and Justice, dismissed such reactions as signs of “the dictatorship of the minority.” The paper quotes mainly Islamist MPs as defending the decision to allocate half the constituent assembly’s seats to lawmakers, a move that had elicited the outrage of revolutionary and liberal forces. Talaat Marzouq, a Salafi MP, accused these forces opposing stability and seeking to “host the democratic transition,” according to the paper.
Most papers also highlight the brewing tension between the Brotherhood and the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces over plans to sack the current cabinet. Freedom and Justice leads by quoting a statement issued yesterday by the group: “Keeping a failing cabinet would undermine the integrity of the presidential poll and the referendum on the constitution.” The paper goes on to affirm that on Wednesday Parliament will announce its rejection of the address Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri made to Parliament in February, which in theory would be a prelude to moving a no-confidence vote. The paper quotes FJP lawmakers as saying that they will withdraw confidence from the cabinet if it does not tender its resignation.
Indeed the Islamist-military stand-off seems to be escalating. In yesterday’s statement the Brotherhood adopted an unprecedentedly harsh tone toward the generals, accusing them of protecting a failing cabinet. The statement also decried threats to dissolve Parliament, saying they are an attempt by the military council to blackmail lawmakers. In fact, the Supreme Constitutional Court is set to decide on an appeal questioning the constitutionality of the process whereby Parliament was elected. Many constitutional experts expect the court to uphold the verdict, which will imply the dissolution of Parliament.
Al-Akhbar newspaper quotes the group’s statement, which reads, “The threat to dissolve Parliament is an appropriate form of blackmailing.” The editor of the state-owned daily writes half a page assessing the repercussions of the dissolution of the newly-elected Parliament. Yasser Rizk, known for being close to military sources, argues that the dissolution is very likely. He goes on to propose two scenarios depending on when the court hands down its verdict. If Parliament is dissolved after the presidential elections are concluded and the constitution is written, the parliamentary poll will have to be repeated. The constitution will then be in question because illegitimately elected MPs contributed to drafting it, he says. In the second possible scenario, the court may rule before the transitional period is over. In this case, we will be back to square one and the transitional path will have to be put to rest, according to the column.
Besides high politics, Sunday’s papers report on the ongoing fuel crisis. Al-Wafd daily leads with news about the bloody clashes that erupted in Minya over diesel supplies, leaving six injured. In Fayoum, "thugs" have taken over gas stations and raised the price of fuel, according to the mouthpiece of the liberal Wafd Party. The SCAF is negotiating with “sister countries” to import more fuel and hence resolve the crisis, adds the paper.
Finally, most dailies highlight the riots that erupted in Port Said city yesterday in response to the sanctions imposed by the Egyptian Football Association on the city’s Masry club. On 1 February, Masry fans flooded the pitch after a game and 74 fans of the visiting Ahly team were killed, but many have blamed police failures and willful security negligence. Al-Ahram reports that yesterday Masry supporters attempted to raid a building belonging to the Suez Canal Authority and clashed with military personnel. The violence left one dead and 67 injured, including 16 military personnel, according to the state-owned daily.
Egypt’s papers:
Al-Ahram: Daily, state-run, largest distribution in Egypt
Al-Akhbar: Daily, state-run, second to Al-Ahram in institutional size
Al-Gomhurriya: Daily, state-run
Rose al-Youssef: Daily, state-run
Al-Dostour: Daily, privately owned
Al-Shorouk: Daily, privately owned
Al-Wafd: Daily, published by the liberal Wafd Party
Youm7: Daily, privately owned
Al-Tahrir: Daily, privately owned
Freedom and Justice: Daily, published by the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party
Sawt al-Umma: Weekly, privately owned
Al-Arabi: Weekly, published by the Nasserist Party
Al-Nour: Official paper of the Salafi Nour Party
