The ruling that nullified the Constituent Assembly’s formation was “a legal trick,” a Salafi leader said Tuesday, adding that the majority has the right to write the constitution.
“The ruling was made by using a legal trick that has other purposes that don’t conform to democracy,” said Sheikh Yasser Borhamy, head of the Alexandria-based group Salafi Dawah.
During an interview on the privately owned channel CBC, Borhamy said the majority has the right to write the constitution because “it’s absolutely one of their basic duties.”
Borhamy said democracy doesn’t mean that the people would hold absolute power, but God, whose rules should not be violated.
The suffering endured by society under the Mubarak regime caused people to elect an Islamist majority, he said.
“The presence of trusted preachers on streets and TV channels has led to people’s trust in the Islamist trend,” the sheikh said.
He said his group practices policies that are not based on lying and deceiving.
“We practice policy through our morals,” he said.
Borhamy also discussed Salafi presidential hopeful Hazem Salah Abu Ismail’s disqualification. The Presidential Elections Commission excluded the lawyer-turned-preacher from the race earlier this month because of evidence that showed his mother held US citizenship.
Borhamy said Abu Ismail hadn’t been Salafi Dawah’s chosen candidate. He considered Abu Ismail’s media discourse as the reason Salafis supported him.
“He belongs to the Brotherhood, despite his Salafi belief,” Borhamy said.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
