“The Muslim Brotherhood will have a significant role to play in post-Mubarak Egypt. And that is good thing.” — Reza Aslan
“Egypt secularists pull out of constituent assembly,” from AFP, March 28 (thanks to all who sent this in):
CAIRO “” Liberal and leftist parties have pulled out of a panel drafting Egypt’s new constitution, they announced on Tuesday, accusing Islamists of monopolising the process to deliver its post-revolution charter.
The withdrawals from the panel will call its legitimacy into question, pushing the struggle between Islamists and secularists over the issue to crisis point.
“We announce our rejection of the way the constituent assembly was formed,” Ahmed Said, the head of the liberal Free Egyptians party, told reporters.
Last week, the Islamist-dominated parliament voted for the panel to be made up of 50 lawmakers from the upper and lower houses of parliament, and 50 public figures.
But liberals argued that such a high proportion of legislators gave Islamists — who control nearly three quarters of parliament– too much control of the constitution.
…With the current make-up, “the constitution will be drafted by political Islam… We refuse to betray the trust of the people,” he said….
The Muslim Brotherhood and the ultra-conservative Salafist Al-Nur party together went on to dominate both houses of parliament in recent parliamentary elections, sparking fears among secularists and the Coptic minority of restrictions on freedoms….
The Muslim Brotherhood’s political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party, has been pressuring the military to sack the cabinet — which it accuses of stalling the revolution — and to appoint an FJP-led government….