20110627
xinhua
CAIRO, June 26 (Xinhua) -- The Egyptian Tagammu party decided on Saturday to suspend its participation in the meeting held by the newly-formed 18-party Democratic Alliance, reflecting disagreement still existing over whether a new constitution or elections should come first.

Members of the left-leaning Tagammu party believe it is too early to form an elections alliance for the coming elections while it is not clear yet which political system, parliamentary or presidential, will be adopted in the new regime of Egypt, state news agency MENA reported.

The party is demanding the ruling Supreme Council of Armed forces to change article 60 of the constitutional amendments approved in the March referendum and draft the new constitution ahead of the parliamentary elections, according to Amena Al- Nakkash, Deputy Chairman of Tagammu.

As the country's parliamentary elections scheduled in September are approaching, a nationwide debate is intensifying over whether drafting new constitution or elections should take place first.

The secular and liberal political forces are prompting a campaign urging a delay of the parliamentary poll and a new constitution to be drawn up before the parliamentary elections, for fear that Islamist parties will win the majority of the seats and control the legislature.

PARTIES COORDINATION ENHANCED

While the debate is going on, political parties and politicians are busy in enhancing coordination for ensuring a position in the upcoming elections.

Last week, the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party and other 17 parties approved a pro-democracy document, which sets common principles that govern the new constitution and guarantees a modern, democratic civil state.

The national alliance of the 18 parties, including the Freedom and Justice Party, the liberal Wafd Party, Tagammu Party, Nasseri Party and the Al-Wasat Party representing the ultra-conservative Salafists, also discussed establishing a unified list for the elections to ensure equal representation in the parliament.

Analysts said the move of the Muslim Brotherhood to form an alliance with secular parties is to allay fears over Islamist majority in the parliament and ease the pressure to demand a new constitution to come first.

Waheed Abdel-Meguid, political analyst in the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, said that the demand was from some political powers that have no popular support among Egyptian people, fearing that coming-first parliamentary elections would marginalize them in the political arena. "The Constitution First call has no longer a strong foundation after the statement of the 18 parties, which aims at setting principles for the new constitution, and will be weak very soon," Abdel-Meguid told Xinhua.

He said since the 18-party alliance represents most of the political powers and the fear of the Islamists to draft the new constitution alone no longer exist, adding the parties concerning the overwhelming of the Muslim Brotherhood may feel more relaxed and give up their call for "constitution first."

However, Al-Nakkash stressed those who are calling for parliament elections first are the Islamic political forces, which are the best organized groups with sufficient financial support.

"We believe if they enrolled the parliamentary elections, they will gain the majority, so they can easily form a 100-member constitutional committee charged with drawing up Egypt's new constitution," Al-Nakkash told Xinhua.

"By observing the Egyptian political arena, we know that most parties are calling for constitution first," said Al-Nakkash.

CAMPAIGN INTENSIFIED

The debate over which of the two pivotal events should precede the other emerged two months after the March referendum in which 77.2 percent of Egyptians voted in favor of holding the parliamentary elections first and the constitution should be drafted by a 100-member committee from the elected-parliament within six months, followed by another referendum on the draft.

The Muslim Brotherhood and salafists rejected the argument for "constitution first," saying such a move is against people's will.

Egyptian Prime Minister Essam Sharaf said earlier that postponing the election would give the chance for a larger number of new political parties to prepare well, as they hold that an early election will only benefit the well-organized and funded Islamist parties.

About 70 Egyptian liberal and secular political parties and youth groups have launched a "Constitution First" campaign aiming at collecting 15 million signatures on a petition to put pressure on the ruling military authorities to draft the Egyptian constitution ahead of elections.

The campaign has already gathered more than three million signatures, according to the organizers.

"We have no choice but to go into a democratic struggle to convince the Supreme Council of Armed forces that Egypt's best interest is to have the constitution first," Al-Nakkash said.

According to George Isaac, an activist in the National Association for Change, insisted that the constitution should come first as the ground because people still do not know whether Egypt is going to have a presidential or a parliamentary system.

"It is very dangerous that the next parliament will be in charge of drafting the new constitution, as the constitution is actually above the parliament. That is why we should have the constitution first," George Isaac said.