Egyptian parties demand a civil state

Twenty one Egyptian political parties have asked the presidential candidates, Ahmed Shafiq and Mohammed Morsi, to preserve the civil spirit of the Egyptian state and to take legal action against the establishment of any entities based on religion. The political parties also called for resolving the Muslim Brotherhood and allow it to participate in political life through its Freedom and Justice Party, the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, and maintain the unity of the community. The parties announced: “we will support the candidate who will pledge, in writing, to achieve the demands of the delegation, which will be formed from these parties to negotiate with the candidates". The parties also demanded in a press conference in Cairo: "A just punishment for the blood of the martyrs of the revolution and a commitment not to pardon a person who committed any crime during the glorious revolution, the protection of the Egyptian Constitution through the formation of the Constituent Assembly, to take the al-Azhar and Democratic Alliance documents into consideration while writing the Constitution. We also want to achieve the goals of the Egyptian revolution and to take measures to ensure the participation of the revolutionary power of the  youth in the administration of the new republic". Salah Hassabullah, the head of the Egyptian Citizen Party, urged the Egyptian people to participate in the run-off elections, in order to prevent any fraud and to carry out their national duty, asking: forces and political leaders "to respect the result of the elections and the will of the nation.” The parties will continue their meetings to discuss the candidates and their response to these demands. Among the participating parties in the conference are the Democratic Peace Party, the Egyptian Revolution and Freedom Party, the Egypt Arab Socialist Party, the Liberal Socialists, Young Egypt, Egypt 2000, Egypt October and the Arab Party for Justice and Equality. These parties stressed, that their support for the Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Morsi is conditional on the group practicing their political actions through their party. The head of the Democratic Peace Party, Ahmed Fadali, said during the conference: "a set of controls was put by the parties in order to support one of the candidates in the run-off, whether Mohammed Morsi or Ahmed Shafiq and they will send a delegation representing them for both candidates to know their opinions on those controls. Whoever approves those conditions, the parties will support. Fadali added: "the parties reject the draft law, which the legislative committee in the parliament seeks to approve, in order to form the Constituent Assembly," stressing: "Writing the Constitution should reflect the will of all Egyptian people, which is more important than the presidential election".