The Muslim Brotherhood is scheduled to meet with secular and liberal political players Saturday to discuss standards for selecting members of a new constitution-drafting assembly.
Mohamed Abul Ghar, head of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, told Al-Masry Al-Youm that secular forces feel the Brotherhood is trying to delay an agreement on the criteria for selecting the Constituent Assembly until after the presidential election.
The meeting was originally scheduled for Wednesday at the office of MP Wahid Abdel Meguid, coordinator of the Freedom and Justice Party-led Democratic Alliance. Abul Ghar said Wednesday was the second time the Brotherhood had postponed the meeting.
The People’s Assembly Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee on Saturday approved a draft law on standards for forming the assembly. A court ruling in April nullified the initial Islamist-dominated assembly for not being diverse enough to represent society.
Some MPs oppose the draft law, saying it does not stipulate that the assembly adequately represent all segments of society, as agreed upon in previous meetings with military leaders Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi and Armed Forces Chief of Staff Sami Anan.
Ayman Abul Ela, head of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party's parliamentary bloc, told Al-Masry Al-Youm his party would agree on the assembly makeup provided it is not dominated by a single political force.
Wafd Party MP Ahmed Attalah said his party rejects the legislation because it believes the Freedom and Justice Party developed the bill without discussion with other parties and omitted the items agreed upon in the military council meetings.
Attalah sees the FJP as grasping to control the Constituent Assembly out of fear its powers would be limited to Parliament should Morsy lose the presidential runoff.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
