Jama’a al-Islamiyah Spokesperson Mohamed Hassan said on Monday that the Salaf-led “Nour Party’s stance is worse than that of the church” regarding its call to vote “yes” on the constitution.
Hassan told the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper that, “whoever reviews the Nour Party practices cannot find a clear situation, as they always take side of the rulers.”
“During 25 January revolution, they took the wrong side. They still haven’t changed their ways. They said they took part in the coup to preserve article no. 219 which interprets the Islamic Sharia in constitution. However, the article was dropped and Nour Party still supports the constitution,” he added.
Hassan added that his group, affiliated to the National Alliance Supporting Legitimacy (NASL) led by the Muslim Brotherhood, will declare its final stance on the constitution whether to boycott the referendum or campaign for a “no” vote next week.
He referred to two views within the group. “One of them supports boycotting so as not to legitimize the coup, while the other supports participation and voting ‘no.’ However, the latter has fears of rigging the results, as there are no real guarantees for integrity of balloting.”
Hassan said that the general assembly formed of 250 members’ opinions are being reviewed over the issue to make its decision. “In principle, there is a constitution that was put to referendum and it’s a legitimate constitution. However, we don’t approve the current constitution. In terms of content, there are many reservations over the draft. It clearly violated the state’s Islamic Identity as the constitution included a dull explanation to principles of Islamic Sharia, moreover, it immunized Defense Minister for eight years.
He also added that his group have talks with NASL over the stance, “However, the group will apply its general assembly decision if approved the ‘no’ vote,” although the alliance called for boycotting.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
