Reliable sources said that the Supreme Council of Armed Force’s delay in announcing the constitutional declaration is due to the Supreme Council's keenness to reach a consensus among political forces.
The same sources told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the Supreme Council asked the committee responsible for drafting the constitutional declaration to include the amended articles approved by the 19 March referendum.
After the committee developed a preliminary draft, the Supreme Council formed another committee to revise the declaration’s articles and ensure they will be acceptable to different political forces in Egyptian society. Amending some articles and adding others, the second committee disagreed with the first committee.
As a result, the Supreme Council decided to form a third committee to consider the disagreements between the two committees and develop a final form of the constitutional declaration.
In related developments, Al-Masy Al-Youm was informed that the Supreme Council of Armed Forces wants to conduct parliamentary elections next September but postpone presidential elections till June 2012, so a new Constitution can be created first.
Many political forces and figures have demanded that parliamentary and presidential elections be postponed until there is a new Constitution. Alarmed by the implications of leaving the task of developing a new Constitution to Parliament, they called on the Supreme Council to form a constituent assembly to draft it. Among those figures was Mohamed ElBaradei, who stressed his opposition to the 1971 Constitution.
