Opposition to the draft Constitution; 

 

Interview with George Massīḥa, 

one of the members of the Constituent Assembly

who has withdrawn in protest

 

 

 

Egyptian multiparty delegation visiting Dutch Parliament, October 10, 2012.

From left to right: Ms. Dina Zakariya (FJP), Amr Soliman (Free Egyptians Party), George Messiha (Wafd), Dr. Tarek Shaalan (el-Nour Party), Dr. Hazem Mansour (FJP),  Dr. Ahmed Kadry (el-Nour Party),  Dr. Amr Darrag (FJP and Secretary-General of the Constituent Assembly). Mr. Nabil Zaki, Tagammu Party, was also with us but is not on this photo.

 

 

 

Comment Editor-in-Chief Cornelis Hulsman

 

CAIRO, Egypt (AWR) 30 November 2012  – One week ago I wrote in Arab-West Report that President Mursi’s decree is dividing the country, but one should not only blame the President. Circumstances are complicated. Dr. Amr Darrag, General Secretary of the Constituent Assembly responded to that article by saying, “I believe the article is quite fair. Thank you very much.” George Massīḥa of the Wafd Party was equally positive. This is what we try to do, explain complications, giving justice to the various positions that exist.

 

This report by Jaco Stoop is based on a meeting with former Constituent Assembly member, George Massīḥa and follows up on the developments in the past week. George Massīḥa told us that judges were planning to declare the formation of the Constituent Assembly and the Shūrá Council invalid and Mursi’s decree thus strongly gives the impression that he wanted to rush to complete the Constitution before they could do so. This is a clash between the presidency and the Egyptian judiciary in which the Constitution and efforts to seek consensus have become the main victims. Assistant President Samir Marcos was not informed of the decree prior to the announcement and withdrew from his function. Both parties, supporters of the President and his opponents do not appear to be willing to compromise. Egypt now has a draft constitution that has been approved by Islamist members of the Constituent Assembly only and therefore does not reflect consensus. It is likely that this draft constitution will be presented to the public for a referendum.

 

What will the opposition do? Boycott the referendum? Advise to vote no? 

 

Demonstrations are taking place now, even further crippling the Egyptian economy. Violence is ensuing. Offices of the Muslim Brotherhood in many cities have been burned or looted. Whatever their differences, this is unacceptable. It is my wish that parties come to a compromise. This ongoing division is ruining the country.

 

Introduction

 

Arab-West Report director, Cornelis Hulsman and interns working with Arab-West Report met with George Massīḥa on Wednesday evening (November 28) to discuss the latest developments regarding the draft constitution. Massīḥa is a member of the Wafd Party, who, among several others, withdrew from the Constituent Assembly, the body tasked with drafting Egypt’s first post-revolutionary constitution (the Arabic version of the draft can be found on al-Shorouk’s website). What follows is a report of this meeting, an overview of the events that took place after President Mursī issued a Constitutional Declaration on Thursday, November 22.

 

Brief overview of events

 

On November 28, 2012 it became clear that the Constituent Assembly would vote on the draft constitution on November 29, the next day. Events proceeded quickly after President Mursī issued a seven article decree on Thursday, November 22, in which he assigned himself more power and immunized his decisions from judicial or parliamentary oversight. AWR responded with a newsletter calling for consensus. The declaration (see here for an English translation of the declaration by al-Ahram English) also gives the president the power to appoint the prosecutor-general for a four year term, which President Mursī did immediately.

 

On Friday, November 23, protesters from several leftist and secularist groups called for countrywide demonstrations against the President’s decree. These demonstrations must also be seen in the light of ongoing clashes between riot police and mainly youth in the direct vicinity of Cairo’s Tahrir Square, following the commemoration of the 2011 Mohammed Mahmoud Street clashes that started on Monday, November 19, 2012. This Egypt Independent article explains in detail the reasons for these clashes.

 

The Judges Club rejected President Mursī’s decree and announced a strike to put pressure on the President. As Egypt Independent indicates, although the judiciary is not a monolithic block, there is widespread opposition among the judges.

 

On Tuesday, November 27, the Wafd Party, the April 6 Movement, the Popular Current Party, and many other leftist and secularist groups again held demonstrations in cities all over the country. Tahrir Square was once again filled with anti-government demonstrators. The Muslim Brotherhood had previously announced its plans for a demonstration in front of Cairo University, but withdrew these plans to avoid clashes between pro- and anti-government protesters. The pro-Mursī demonstrations in the governorates outside of Cairo however, continued as planned.

 

The opposition parties, Hizb el Dostour, el Tayaar el Sha'aby, Hizb el Wafd, the Revolutionary Socialists, Hizb el-Masry el Dimuqraty, Hizb el Karama, el Tahaluf el Sha'aby, several youth groups (6 April Youth Movement, Maspiro Youth Union) have also planned demonstrations on Friday, November 30, while the Muslim Brotherhood and the Al-Nūr Party had announced that they will demonstrate in Tahrir Square on Saturday, December 1, in support of President Mursī. After fear for clashes between anti-government protesters already demonstrating in the square and supporters of the President, they changed the location of their demonstration to Cairo University.

 

The presidency’s attempt to persuade the members to return

 

On Wednesday, November 28, twenty-two ex-members of the Constituent Assembly had been invited to meet with the President to persuade them to return to the assembly on Thursday to vote on the draft constitution.

 

According to George Massīḥa, member of the Wafd Party and ex-member of the Constituent Assembly, the President did not show up at the meeting himself, but sent his legal advisor, Gād Allah.

 

The group of people (see appendix for a complete list of the attendants) was presented with two choices.

 

Massīḥa: “Either we accept the [Constitutional] Declaration, or the constitution would be voted on tomorrow [Thursday, November 29]”. Massīḥa also added that a new constitution does not mean the end of the decrees issued by Mursī, because that will only happen until the election and installation of a new parliament. The group responded by saying that it is their decision to move on.

 

Twenty-three people of the original assembly have finally withdrawn. Massīḥa expected that about sixty people would vote on Thursday, November 29. The actual number of voters was higher: eighty-five of the hundred members were present. Eleven members who resigned were replaced by substitutes, mainly from the Freedom and Justice Party and Salafī parties, creating an even bigger advantage for the proponents of the draft constitution. “Either way it would be enough. They need 67 votes in the first round, and if a second round is needed, 57 votes are enough.” Most of the articles were unanimously accepted.

 

A day before this meeting with the presidency, there was another meeting of ex-members of the Constituent Assembly with representatives of al-Azhar. George Massīḥa did not attend the meeting himself, but others. The Coptic Orthodox Church was represented by Kāmil Sāliḥ.

 

Massīḥa heard “He was very aggressive in the meeting and told the other representatives that the Church does not accept most of the constitution, not just article 220 [article 219 in the latest draft]. He said that most of the constitution is not accepted by the Church”.

 

Article 219 states the sources of the sharī’ah as follows: “The principles of Islamic Law shall include full evidences, orthodox, and jurisprudent rules, sources approved by schools of the Sunnīs and the community”. Massīḥa says that this article was issued by al-Azhar, but without the last part of the sentence: “sources approved by schools of the Sunnis and the community”. He follows: “Especially the last part is problematic, because the meaning of ‘the community (“al-Jamā‘a”) is not specified. It does not say ‘the companions [of the Prophet Muḥammad]', it’s a larger group.”

 

Massīḥa also states that a couple of articles could provide extra possibilities for the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafist groups to interfere in peoples’ lives, with the excuse of morality and maintaining traditions. The article about the presidential elections also leaves the possibility for Khayrat al-Shāṭer and Ḥāzim Abū Ismā‘īl to run for president again. This is one of the reasons for Massīḥa to call the Constituent Assembly a political assembly, not a national one that represents the Egyptian people.

 

Opposition against the Constitution and clashes

 

“We are not mobilizing people, they are mobilizing themselves. We are not like the Brotherhood, we don’t give people orders to move [to Tahrir Square]. The protests were not just in Tahrir Square, but also in the rest of Egypt,” Massīḥa said.

 

According to Massīḥa, the President’s assistant called the protests against President Mursī a conspiracy to remove an elected president from office. “This is of course nonsense, and they use this as an excuse, a motive to go ahead. We did not get anything from this meeting whatsoever.”

 

The only thing that is left for the opposition is protesting and campaigning against the Constitution. Within a month after the Constituent Assembly has accepted the draft constitution, a referendum should be held. Massīḥa is pessimistic about the prospects of this referendum: “[the Muslim Brotherhood] know very well that any draft constitution will be accepted in a referendum. They will play the religion card, and they will also stress the importance of security”.

 

Massīḥa is well aware that the opposition needs to have a well-organized campaign against the Constitution, in preparation of the referendum. The members who resigned from the Constituent Assembly have to explain their decision to resign, not only to the public, but also to embassies and foreign ministries all over the world. “We have formed a group of three persons: Mr. Ḥamdī Qandīl, Dr. Ḥassan Nāfa‘a, and Dr. Waḥīd ‘Abd al-Magīd, the former spokesman for the [Constituent] Assembly. They will make sure that there is wide media coverage. In addition to this media campaign we will have to go into the streets and explain to the people why they should vote against the Constitution. The only weapon we have is public support.”

 

According to Massīḥa, the clashes in the Nile Delta play into the hands of proponents of the Constitution and the Muslim Brotherhood. “Tensions [between supporters of the president and opposition] in for instance, Manūfiyya, are very high. In Maḥalla only there were more than three-hundred people injured and five deaths as a result of clashes between opposition and the Muslim Brotherhood.”  (CH: these are regions where previously the NDP and in the presidential elections Ahmad Shafiq scored well.)

 

The scenes of Damanhūr were especially worrying. On Sunday, November 25, clashes broke out between Muslim Brotherhood supporters and people opposed to Mursī’s decree. One fifteen year-old member of the Brotherhood was killed and many people were injured.

 

Conclusions: Prospects for the future

 

George Massīḥa does not expect the President to withdraw his declaration. “He made it very clear that not one letter of the declaration will be changed.” Many people, even veteran politicians, are afraid for the future. If the Muslim Brotherhood does not back down, the country will be even more divided than it already is. The latest events have caused enormous polarization, which poses a real threat to the Egyptian society as a whole.

 

Steps must be taken to come together again, in order to prevent the situation from spiraling out of control. Massīḥa thinks that if clashes continue to occur, the army will use this as an excuse to once again assume power, which would be a major setback in the transition to democracy. However, right now he does not see any other scenario, unless the Muslim Brotherhood realizes that they need to cooperate with the opposition to prevent the country from falling apart.

 

It is at least encouraging that the supporters of President Mursī have decided to change the venue of their demonstration on Saturday, December 1, to Cairo University to avoid clashes with the opposition in Tahrir Square. However, the situation outside of Cairo is definitely more worrying and potentially more dangerous. Al-Azhar has already appealed to the President to bring all political powers together to initiate a dialogue. That would be a first step in the right direction.

The translation of the draft can be found here: egyptindependent.com/news/egypt-s-draft-constitution-translated

 

Appendix: Members who resigned from the Constituent Assembly (CH: It should be noted that this list in incomplete.)

 

-         Dr. ‘Amr Mūsā;

-         Dr. Ḥassan Nāfa‘a

-         Mr. Ḥamdī Qandīl;

-         Dr. Waḥīd ‘Abd  al-Magīd;

-         Mr. Fu’ād Badrāwī

-         Dr. Muṣṭafa ‘Abd al-Galāl;

-         Dr. Su‘ād Rizq;

-         Mr. Muḥammad al-Sadāt;

-         Dr. George Massīḥa;

-         Mr. al-Sayyid al-Badawī;

-         Dr. Rif‘at Lakūsha;

-         Dr. Salāḥ ‘Izz;

-         Dr. Muḥammad Kāmil;

-         Dr. Ḥassan Yammah.