Analysts: Constitutional declaration attempt to satisfy Islamists, liberals

Political analysts say a late night constitutional declaration issued Monday by interim President Adly Mansour was an attempt to satisfy all political groups, particularly the Salafists and liberals, doubting his success. "The constitutional declaration was not biased against any party though it contains articles that might enrage Islamists," Tareq Fahmy, a political science professor in the American University in Egypt, told the Anadolu Agency. Adly has issued a 33-article constitutional declaration to regulate the transitional phase that followed the ouster of elected President Mohammad Morsi. The decree stipulates amending the suspended constitution first, then holding parliamentary elections followed by presidential polls. It gives the interim president legislative authority after consulting the government until the new parliament is elected. Professor Fahmy cited an article in the declaration that allows the dissolution of religious parties as a point of contention. "Islamists will see it an attempt to exclude them from the political scene,” he said. But the decree tried to please the Salafists by keeping the article on Islamic Shari'ah as drafted by the Islamists in the suspended constitution without any change. - Doubts Fahmy, the political scientist, casts doubts on the time frame for holding parliamentary election within seven months. "There are doubts that Egypt will be ready to hold election that fast," he said, criticizing the declaration for ignoring to give youth and revolutionary groups enough time to get ready to join the political process. Political expert Mokhtar Al-Ghabboushi says the declaration was an attempt to reconcile feuding political groups. "The purpose of this declaration was to calm tempers." He noted that while the articles seemed generally satisfactory, this is not final. "There is no guarantee these articles will not be changed. It will be defined when these articles become a constitution.” The interim president will form a legal committee to propose amendments to the constitution and it will present its proposals to a 50-member committee that is supposed to represent all sections of society. The final draft will be put to a popular referendum. Fahmy, the AUC professor, believes the declaration will arouse fears among the Islamists and liberals if the unrest continues, which might push the interim president to delay enforcing some articles until stability is restored. "In this case, more constitutional declarations will be issued, meaning that the time frame in the constitutional declaration will be indefinite".