Egypt set for rewrite of Morsi constitution

23/09/2013| IslamWeb

Egypt is likely to completely rewrite the constitution adopted under Mohamed Morsi, a spokesman for the committee amending it said on Sunday, in a further push to reverse changes introduced under the deposed president.

The 50-member committee, which includes two Islamists but no representative of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood, was appointed by the interim government installed after the army overthrew Morsi in July following protests against his rule.

More than 2,000 people, mostly from the Brotherhood, have been arrested in the past two months, including Morsi and most of the group's other leaders. The government said "the Brotherhood declined an offer to join the committee".

Overhaul of electoral system

One major change is likely to be a reversal of a change to the voting system, made after the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak in 2011, by which two-thirds of parliamentary seats went to party lists and one-third to individuals.

Under that system, the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist parties won about 80 percent of seats in elections, so any change is expected to reduce those parties' electoral chances.

"The individual political figure makes more sense to the public than a party list of names they do not know," Salmawy said.

The committee is also considering scrapping an article in the 2012 constitution that allows journalists to be jailed for what they write.

"You cannot have prison terms in any legal case that has to do with something that has been published in the press. You can have fines," Salmawy said.

The new constitution is also likely to drop a ban on Mubarak-era figures from public office, according to an early draft leaked to the media this month.

Amr Moussa, Mubarak's foreign minister who is chairing the committee, said: "I don't think the discussion has addressed the role of individuals... the people will elect the member they find suitable to represent them."

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Amr Moussa, 76, a former Arab League secretary-general and Mubarak's foreign minister is chairing the committee.

Aljazeera