Reuters/Cairo
Egypt’s new constitution would strengthen the army’s hand and could ban Islamist parties outright, according to a draft published in state media yesterday, though the drafting body missed a self-imposed deadline for finalising the text.
Mohamed Salmawy, spokesman for the 50-member assembly, had said the committee would announce it had completed the draft yesterday. But a source inside the assembly later said the committee would reconvene today for more talks.
The constitution, expected to be put to a referendum in December, will be a milestone in the army’s plans for a political transition, due to culminate in parliamentary and presidential elections next year.
It underscores the new balance of power after the military deposed Islamist head of state Mohamed Mursi in July following mass protests against his rule.
The assembly has until December 3 to finish its work.
The new constitution would replace one signed into law by Mursi last year after it was passed in a referendum. That constitution was suspended when Mursi, Egypt’s first freely elected president, was overthrown.
The assembly chaired by former Arab League chief Amr Moussa has only two Islamists, one of them a member of the hardline Nour Party and the other a former member of the Muslim Brotherhood who backed the army’s move against Mursi.
The source inside the assembly said the disagreements pertained to language in the preamble on Islamic law. But Mohamed Abolghar, a social democrat and assembly member, said the disputes included differences over language on the economy.
“I don’t see any great difficulty left,” he said.
The army-backed government hopes to move smoothly along its roadmap to elections, aimed at restoring a semblance of normalcy to a country torn by the worst civil strife in its modern history.
“There are a few fault lines that need to be resolved,” said Zaid al-Ali, a senior adviser on constitution building with International IDEA, a UN-affiliated organisation, who is following the process.