Problems Ahead For Egypt Constitution Debate
Egypt's Committee of 50 continues to draft the country's new constitution, but not without coming up against several contentious issues.
It’s been around three weeks since Egypt’s Committee of 50 (C50), the country’s new constitutional assembly, began its work on amending the 2012 constitution, which has been suspended since the overthrow of Mohammed Morsi on July 3. The committee has largely been acting as a full constituent assembly, attempting to circumvent its essentially advisory role as is set by the current constitutional declaration.
The declaration gave the actual final power to amend the constitution to a committee of 10 jurists and constitutional law experts — all nominated by the educational institutions and legal bodies they represent — while the C50 was basically tasked with being a society-representing entity that provides opinion.
The administration in Cairo has thus far been engaging with the assembly’s attempts at de facto expanding its own power, seemingly toward the following: The C50 is to draft the actual desired constitutional principles and targets, while the Committee of 10 (C10) would have power over the actual technical articulation. It is still a bit soon to tell if this mechanism will survive.
Given that the C50 appears to be more ideologically homogenous than the previous constituent assembly (most members are non-Islamist in inclination) and of course given that the committee is largely in the beginning of its work, there have not been any utterly monumental clashes between the members yet to report. There has thus far been a debate covering the wide gamut of constitutional wedge issues, including the powers of the judiciary, the former stipulation that parliament be composed of at least 50% workers and farmers. But a few main points have thus far lead the contention:
