As clock ticks down on finishing constitution, committee still deeply divided

With a looming December 3 deadline for the final draft of the new constitution, there are still “deep divisions” within the 50-member constitutional committee that go “beyond the usual conflicts of the political forces,” said on Thursday Amr al-Shobaky, the head of the body’s ruling system committee.

The privately owned daily newspaper Al-Shorouk quoted Shobaky as saying, "There is a feeling of fear among state institutions from elected bodies [meaning the soon to be elected parliament and president], in addition to the lack of trust between the Islamists and the seculars; so everybody is pressuring for guarantees to protect their own interests in the constitution.”

The most hotly contested articles include those related to the Armed Forces, particularly those regarding the military trials of civilians and the process of appointing the minister of defense, Shobaky said.

Articles outlining the implementation of Sharia are also being seriously disputed, Shobaky continued, especially given the hardline conservative Salafi Nour Party’s insistence that Article 219 be preserved in the draft constitution. Most of the other committee members want to do away with that article and only keep Article 2, which stipulates that the principles of Sharia are the main source of legislation, he asserted.

Articles related to the powers of the judiciary, electoral systems and allocating quotas for women, workers and farmers in the parliament are also sources of division within the committee.

Meanwhile, the sub-committee on rights and freedoms agreed to include an article to establish a commission to prevent discrimination. Once a parliament is elected, it would issue a law to organize this commission, Shobaky said.

The members of the proposed commission could not be fired from their posts, as they would be administratively independent from the executive authority. The members would receive salaries equal to the salaries of judges working in the Supreme Constitutional Court, and would be tasked with presenting an annual report to the parliament.

The commission would also have the authority to file lawsuits and execute judicial arrests.