Moussa heads constitution-amending panel

Egypt's Amr Moussa, a Mubarak regime figure, will head the panel amending the Constitution enacted during Mohamed Morsi's presidency, officials said. Moussa, a 10-year Mubarak-era foreign minister and 10-year Arab League secretary-general who ran for president of Egypt after Hosni Mubarak's 2011 ouster, defeated influential lawyer Sameh Ashour to lead the 50-person Constitution-drafting committee, the officials said, UPI reported. The vote by committee members was 30 for Moussa and 16 for Ashour, with two abstentions and two members absent. Moussa said he ran for the post after consulting various political powers. The military-backed committee, which includes only two Islamists, will now determine the number of deputy heads, al-Masry al-Youm newspaper said. The amended charter is to be approved by Oct. 7, or within 60 days of the committee's first meeting, which was Sunday. Source: QNA