The US State Department on Monday downplayed concerns about Islamists tightening their grip on the formation of a 100-member panel tasked with drafting Egypt’s new constitution.
“We’re not going to prejudge, obviously, the work of this panel,” State Department Spokesperson Victoria Nuland said at a press briefing.
Five political parties and at least 14 secular public figures have announced their withdrawal from the constituent assembly, with most saying they cannot participate in a body that represents only one political faction in Egyptian society. Islamists comprise about 60 percent of the assembly.
When asked how she views the panel, Nuland responded indirectly, saying it is the next step in Egypt’s transitional process, and that the constitutional draft will eventually be put to a nationwide referendum vote.
However, Nuland did identify some of the general principles that the US would like to see enshrined in the new constitution.
“We want to see a new constitution for Egypt that upholds democratic values and universal human rights in all of their aspects, and provides protections and assurances for the participation and the rights of all Egyptians, regardless of their religion, their group, their part of the country, their sex, etc.”
Asked whether she thinks that an Islamist-dominated panel can draft a constitution that upholds democratic values, Nuland said the US doesn’t judge Islamists by their names or their history.
“We’re going to judge them by what they do,” she said. “We’re going to judge them by the output.
“This panel is from the elected Parliament, so having been elected democratically, it’s now their obligation to uphold and defend and protect the democratic rights that brought them to power in the first place, including the universal rights of all groups,” she continued. “So that’s what we’re expecting from this process and that’s the standard that we’ll hold them to.”
