Nour Party to join in amending constitution

After conflicting reports about the Nour Party’s stance toward amending the constitution, spokesperson Nader Bakkar set the record straight Sunday night, officially announcing the Salafi party’s participation in the process on Twitter.

In an official statement published by Al-Ahram, the Nour Party said it decided to partake in the process so it could join other political parties who seek to maintain the January 25 revolution’s achievements, and to preserve the Egyptian identity.

A 10-person committee submitted constitutional amendments to interim President Adly Mansour on Sunday, who will refer the new draft charter to a broader 50-person committee, as per Article 29 of the Constitutional Declaration he issued last month.

Al-Masry al-Youm reported that the party would nominate the following members to the 50-person committee: Bakkar, deputy heads Ashraf Thabet and Bassam al-Zarqa, Salafi Dawah Vice President Yasser Borhamy and Nour legal advisor Talaat Marzouk. 

While the party has reservations on amending the constitution in general, since it was ratified by a referendum, it said it fears the 10-person committee initially appointed by the government to revise the charter had overstepped its role and intervened in the “constitution’s features”. The party's statement raised concerns about what it called the return of “pre-January 25 political life” where programs, ideologies and visions take a backseat to powerful and wealthy political players.

The larger committee of 50 is expected to represent various factions, including political parties, labor interests, professional syndicates, national councils, and representatives from Al-Azhar, the Coptic Orthodox Church, the Armed Forces and the police.

This committee is expected to finalize amendments in two months and present them to the president to be put up for referendum within 30 days. Under that timetable, Egypt would hold the referendum in November.

Some observers have criticized this process, saying that amendments should first go through a larger group of political representatives and be fine-tuned later by judicial figures, rather than the other way around.

Bakkar said, during a phone interview with an Al-Hayat channel talkshow, that his party’s participation is not only aimed at preserving articles pertaining to the “Islamic identity” of the state, but also to address some of the reservations it has, such as those regarding the electoral system.

On Sunday, Abdallah Badran, a member of the Nour Party’s Supreme Council, had denied reports that the party would participate in the constitution amending committee, state-run agency MENA reported. 

Badran was reported as saying that discussions were still underway and that the party had not yet decided on its stance on the process. He was also quoted in Al-Ahram as saying that the party is adamant on retaining the current language of Articles 2 and 219 regarding the principles of Sharia.