Secular forces, primarily liberals and leftists, dominated the formation of a 50-member committee entrusted with writing the final draft of Egypt's post-30 June constitution. Islamists, who dominated the Constituent Assembly which drafted Egypt's Islamist-backed constitution in 2012, were marginalised to three. The list, unveiled on Sunday by presidential aide Ehab Al-Badawi, showed that high-profile liberals such as Amr Moussa, Egypt's former foreign minister and ex-secretary-general of the Arab League; Al-Sayed Al-Badawi, chairman of the secular-oriented Wafd Party; and Mohamed Abul-Ghar, chairman of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, came on top. Moussa, also a former presidential candidate who decided to boycott meetings of the Constituent Assembly in 2012, sharply attacked the drafting of several articles that imposed a strict code of Islam. In a letter sent to a 10-member technical committee that finalised an initial draft of the new constitution a month ago, Moussa pressed hard for removing three articles from the new constitution, on top of which was Article 219 which he said is redundant and imposes “mediaeval Islam” on Egyptians. The list also includes a big array of liberal intellectuals and public figures. Foremost among these is chairman of the Union of Egyptian Writers and Mohamed Salmawy; cinema director Khaled Youssef; artist Mohamed Abla; and poet Sayed Hegab. Salmawy and Youssef, in particular, are formidable foes of the Muslim Brotherhood and its strict Islamist ideology. Liberal public figures included world-renowned heart surgeon Magdi Yacoub; Al-Ahram political analyst Amr Al-Shobaki; high-profile founder of Mansoura's Kidney Transplant Centre and prominent member of the liberal Egyptian Social Democratic Party Mohamed Ghoneim; and Abdel-Gelil Mustafa, a Cairo University professor and chairman of the liberal-oriented Egyptian Association for Change. A big liberal driving force on the list is president of Cairo University and high-profile constitutional law professor Gaber Nassar. Like Moussa, Nasser boycotted the meetings of the 2012 Islamist-dominated Constituent Assembly, sharply attacking the autocratic practices of its chairman Hossam Al-Ghiriani. Liberal political activists such as Haggag Oudoul and Mosaad Abu Fagr also figured prominently on the list, with both representing Nubians and the people of Sinai respectively. Unionists on the list also mostly belong to the liberal ideology, including Diaa Rashwan, chairman of the Press Syndicate; female lawyer and a member of the National Council for Human Rights Mona Zul-Faqqar; chairwoman of the National Council for Women Mervat Al-Tallawi; and member of the National Council for Motherhood and Childhood Azza Al-Ashmawi. The list includes Talaat Abdel-Kawi, a former leading official of deposed president Hosni Mubarak's defunct ruling National Democratic Party and deputy chairman of the Federation of Egyptian NGOs. Even figures representing leftist political parties also espoused liberal democratic principles. Heading the list are chairman of the Arab Nasserist Party Sameh Ashour; chairman of the pan-Arabist Party of Karama (Dignity) Mohamed Sami; and senior official of the leftist Tagammu Party Hussein Abdel-Razek. Representatives of revolutionary youth movements are also adherents of liberal ideology. These include Mahmoud Badr and Mohamed Abdel-Aziz, two founders of the Tamarod movement which spearheaded the removal of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi from office on 3 July; and Ahmed Eid and Amr Salah; two members of the January Revolution's Youth Coalition and the 30 June Front. Eid and Salah are two journalists with the independent Al-Tahrir newspaper, a sharp critic of the Brotherhood. The Islamists, who exceeded 60 in the 2012 100-member Constituent Assembly, were cut to just three in the 50-member committee. These include Bassam Al-Zarqa, deputy chairman of the ultraconservative Salafist Nour Party; Kamal Al-Halbawi, an Islamic thinker who broke away from the Brotherhood; and Khairi Abdel-Dayem, chairman of the Syndicate of Doctors and a Muslim Brotherhood member. Al-Halbawi likes to describe himself as a liberal Islamic thinker who revolted against the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood. Representatives of Al-Azhar's Sunni institution are widely considered to be moderate clerics who loathe the ideology of the MB. These include the grand mufti of Egypt Shawki Allam, and Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ahmed Al-Tayeb. The liberal-dominated 50-member committee triggered sharp attacks from the Nour Party, with some of its leading officials complaining that Islamists were greatly underrepresented. Salafi cleric Yasser Burhami charged, “the 50-member committee was dominated by enemies of Islamic Sharia and the Islamic project. The number of liberals and Nasserists reached 11, while Islamists were reduced to just two.” While a member of the 2012 Islamist-dominated Constituent Assembly, Burhami pressed hard for the inclusion of Article 219 which delivers a definition of the principles of Islamic Sharia. Burhami and other Nour officials threatened to boycott the 50-member committee if it opted to eliminate Article 219. It also deplored that the 10-member technical committee amended Article 4 to strip Al-Azhar of having a say on Islamic Sharia issues. Some Nour hawks argue that the representation of Islamists has become just symbolic and that it was better to withdraw from the committee. The party's relative doves — particularly spokesman Nader Bakkar — said they are not in favour of boycotting and that the Nour should be keen not to stall Egypt's post-30 June political roadmap. Shaaban Abdel-Alim, a senior Nour Party official, told Al-Ahram Weekly that “Salafis will not boycott the committee, but all political forces should reach consensus over controversial articles, especially Article 219, before it is put to a vote.” “I think seculars now have the majority of votes, and so it is better to seek consensus with Islamists rather than seize this majority to impose their say,” said Abdel-Alim. Badawi said invitations were directed to six Islamist political parties, including the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, but except for the Nour, all rejected joining the 50-member committee. Chairman of the Doctors Syndicate told parliamentary correspondents on Monday that he rejected the drafting of Article 219 when he was a member of the 2012 Islamist-dominated Constituent Assembly. “This article was drafted upon the request of the Salafis but it was rejected by the Muslim Brotherhood,” said Abdel-Dayem, adding, “I also rejected the 2012 constitution imposing an outright political ban on leading officials of Mubarak's National Democratic Party.” On the other hand, civilian forces praised the make-up of the 50-member committee. Chairman of the liberal-oriented Egyptian Social Democratic Party Abul-Ghar said “the representation of political forces is very balanced, reflecting diversity of opinions.” Joining forces with Abul-Ghar, Mohamed Anwar Al-Sadat, chairman of the liberal-oriented Reform and Development Party, said that “although the committee is lacking a number of young people and women, it is highly balanced and braced to draft a liberal constitution.” Al-Sadat added, “the refusal of the Muslim Brotherhood to join the committee reflects the group's chronic state of political arrogance and intransigence.” Mahmoud Al-Khodeiri, a former independent MP, cried foul, saying, “Leading officials of Tamarod and the secular anti-Morsi National Salvation Front [NSF] dominated the formation of the 50-member committee. All should know that the 2012 constitution was not a bad one and that it needed some very simple amendments,” said Al-Khodeiri, arguing that “the privileges granted to the army should be curtailed and its generals face some kind of accountability.” “We are like Turkey before Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islamist party came to office and when military generals had the upper hand,” said Al-Khodeiri. The 50-member committee was formed in accordance with articles 28 and 29 of the post-30 June Constitutional Declaration issued on 8 July. Interim President Adli Mansour issued a decree on Sunday, forming the 50-member panel after a 10-member technical committee finalised the first stage of Egypt's political roadmap last week by amending the 2012 Islamist-backed constitution. Ehab Badawi, Mansour's advisor, told a press conference that the 50-member committee will begin writing the final draft of Egypt's new constitution on 8 September. It should finish its task in 60 days after which the constitution will be put to a national referendum.
