After a month of deliberations and revisions, a 10-member technical committee entrusted with amending Egypt's 2012 constitution has finished its task.
On Tuesday, the committee handed an amended copy of the constitution to Adly Mansour, Egypt's interim president. The copy will be discussed by a 50-member committee representing major stakeholders in Egyptian society. The details of the committee's composition are expected to be announced Wednesday.
As revealed by Ahram Online on Monday, the committee decided to retain Article 2, which states that Islam is the religion of the state, Arabic its official language and Islamic sharia the main source of legislation. The committee, however, decided that Article 219, which gives various interpretations of Islamic sharia, be revoked. This reportedly came upon the request of most political and public institutions.
The article, which was added by the Islamist-dominated constituent assembly in 2012 under the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood, states that: "the principles of Islamic sharia include its generally-accepted interpretations, its fundamental and jurisprudential rules and its widely considered sources as stated by the schools of Sunna and Gamaa."
The committee also opted to change Article 6 to impose an outright ban on the formation of political parties based on religion or on mixing religion with politics. The article in its amended form states that "it is forbidden to form political parties or perform any activities on the basis of religious foundations or on the basis of discrimination in terms of gender or sex."
The new draft could lead to the dissolution of dozens of newly-formed political Islam parties – including the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice party.
The committee's changes will also alter Egypt's electoral system, going back to an individual candidacy system which was in use in Egypt during most of the years of Hosni Mubarak's presidency.
The committee also ruled in favour of eliminating the Shura Council, parliament's upper house, and lifting a ban that prevented leading officials of Mubarak's defunct ruling National Democratic Party from exercising political rights, including running in elections.
Committee member Magdi El-Agati commented that: "Stripping citizens of their political rights must be instituted through judicial order rather than by the national charter."
El-Agati was the judge who ordered the dissolution of the NDP in 2011.
