Egypt\'s Parliament sets 50% MP quota for constituent assembly

Egypt\'s Parliament Cairo – Akram Ali The majority of Egypt\'s Parliament voted in a joint session on Saturday for designating 50 per cent of constituent assembly membership to MPs while the other 50 per cent will consist of non-parliamentary members .
During Saturday\'s session, headed by the speakers of Parliament\'s upper and lower houses, parliamentarians were presented with three different options concerning membership of the constituent assembly that will draft Egypt\'s new constitution.
The first option on the table was that those elected members of the constituent assembly be all members of parliament. The second suggestion was that no MPs be members of the constituent assembly. The third suggestion was that the assembly be a mix of MPs and others.
Socialist Popular Alliance Party MP Abul-Ezz El-Hariri, defending the proposal that the constituent assembly exclude MPs, argued that the qualifications needed for assembly membership are not necessarily found in parliament and must be found elsewhere. The assembly should include legal experts, intellectuals and other professionals from different specialisations, he argued.
Salafist El-Nour Party MP Mostafa Khalifa argued that the constituent assembly should be chosen from among members of parliament as they were elected by the people to draft the constitution. According to Khalifa, the 20 million Egyptians who voted for the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafist El-Nour Party want to see them in the constituent assembly.
The Freedom and Justice Party MP Hussein Mohamed Ibrahim proposed as a compromise that the assembly be a mix of MPs and others. Ibrahim argued that many Egyptians expect the assembly to be made up of MPs whom they voted for. Ibrahim suggested that the assembly be half MPs and half non-MPs.
MP Mohamed Khalifa El-Telawy argued members of the assembly should be chosen according to qualifications, regardless of whether they are members of parliament or not.
The ballot put forward on Saturday to MPs included the different options. The vote results revealed that only 14 voted for forming the assembly from non-MPs alone, while only one voted for making up the assembly solely with MPs.
The choice to dedicate 50 per cent of the assembly to MPs while maintaining the other 50 per cent for non-MPs received the majority of votes, with 472 in favour.  Other votes were divided between the different percentage divisions afforded to MPs and non-MPs in the forthcoming constituent assembly.  
The Muslim Brotherhood\'s Freedom and Justice Party, which hold the most seats in Parliament, had earlier agreed that they would support the 40 per cent for MPs and 60 per cent for non-MPs quota. The Islamist party, however, changed their position early Saturday, supporting instead the 50/50 option instead.
The founder of the liberal Al-Adl party, MP Mustafa El-Naggar, commented on his official Twitter page, with regard to the FJP\'s change of plan: \"The Muslim Brotherhood\'s retreat from their 60 per cent non-MP proposal is unfortunate. We had already supported that initiative when they first announced it.\"
Parliament is expected to elect members of the constituent committee on 24 March.