President Morsy agreed with political groups during a national dialogue session on Monday to form a new committee in order to assess recommended changes to some controversial constitutional articles.
The committee will be composed of five legal experts and five political experts, including representatives from political groups who were absent from the national dialogue sessions.
On Monday evening, Morsy met with a number of political figures after he had called for dialogue with 11 political parties to discuss recent violence throughout the country that has left more than 40 people dead.
In a press conference Tuesday, presidential spokesperson Yasser Ali listed the outcomes that resulted from Monday’s meeting.
The National Salvation Front (NSF), Egypt’s largest opposition bloc, rejected Morsy’s invitation to attend.
Other than the head of the secular Ghad Al-Thawra party, Ayman Nour, only representatives of Islamist political parties were present at the meeting.
During their meeting which lasted for six hours, Morsy and the attendees discussed the recent violent clashes across several Egyptian cities.
Regarding Morsy declaring a state of emergency in three Canal cities, Suez, Ismailiya and Port Said, the president claimed that his decision was a “legal procedure” that he took to protect citizens and the country.
“No wise person would imagine that announcing the state of emergency comes against our families in the Canal cities, who have been the pillars in a history of patriotic struggle,” Ali said during Tuesday’s press conference.
He added that Morsy has agreed to review the state of emergency in another upcoming dialogue meeting after looking at a security report to assess developments in the three cities.
“After revising the security situation, they will decide if the state of emergency will continue for one month or not and in which areas.”
