By Ibrahim El Masry
President Mohamed Morsy has been accused of meddling in the constitutional drafting process. He is arranging meetings this week with political parties to resolve issues over controversial constitutional articles.
Assembly member, Anwar Sadat, criticised the calls from Morsy to agree on the constitution, saying it was unwarranted interference in the work of the assembly.
Sadat said in a statement “the work of the assembly must be fully independent to ward off suspicions and the assembly members are able to solve any problem without presidential interference.”
Sadat added, “if the president wants a consensus then he should start by looking at the members of his own party [the Freedom and Justice party].”
Younis Makhyoun, leader of the Salafi Al-Nour party said, “we support what the president is doing to unite the political forces and end the state of political tension in the street.”
Makhyoun said “the president assured us in a speech that the dialogue is not a substitute for the Constituent Assembly, calling for all proposals to be sent to the assembly.”
The Drafting Committee will review the first draft of the constitution this weekend to resolve the assembly’s disagreements over some articles.
Additional reporting by Joel Gulhane
