Activist and once presidential hopeful Mohamed ElBaradei’s ideas represent “a window of light and a methodology of thinking that we can all build upon," said presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq while commenting on ElBaradei’s statement urging Egypt to focus on a new constitution.
"Our current battle is the constitution, not the president," ElBaradei wrote on his blog Sunday, emphasizing the need for consensus on the Constituent Assembly to ensure it drafts a democratic constitution that guarantees rights and freedoms similar to those enshrined in the draft 1954 constitution.
In a statement issued on Monday, Shafiq called ElBaradei’s words profound as he linked Egypt's current reality and its history with the attempt to issue the 1954 constitution and the birth of the Fifth French Republic at the hands of Charles de Gaulle.
Referring to the upcoming runoff between himself and Mohamed Morsy, Shafiq said he agreed with ElBaradei’s statement.
"The presidential battle is almost over and about to reach its final stage with the election of either of the two competing candidates," he said.
“This does not take away from the importance of the post or its place in the Egyptian political system that we are rebuilding as [the president] is the head of the executive authority and the mediator between the authorities,” Shafiq said in the statement. “But after that, we need to deeply and harmoniously focus, in the full sense of the harmonic approach, on the constitution and to discuss it and its drafting."
"ElBaradei pointed to the 1954 draft constitution, the value of which is known in the constitutional history of Egypt although it was not passed, especially since those who wrote it were of the finest diverse minds in Egypt. I followed television interviews during which ElBaradei discussed this in detail” said Shafiq. “However, despite the 1954 draft constitution’s progressiveness, it did not take into account the military institution’s position, and any new Egyptian constitution must take the role of the armed forces into account with both meticulousness and balance, especially since it sponsored and supported the 25 January revolution and created the 1952 revolution.”
Shafiq also said he agreed with previous ElBaradei statements that the constitution should be written before holding elections or building state institutions, but that this scenario is no longer possible in Egypt. The former civil aviation minister's statement also praised the military.
"At the same time, I do not find any justification to hold the military responsible for the consequences of the situation in which we are now living, in the light of its patriotic quest led by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to allow Egypt to traverse the difficult transitional period that has been and continues to be exposed to serious risks both at home and abroad."
