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Egypt: Not the best constitution

Kamal Gaballa
THE title of this article is taken from a Facebook post by Ezzedine Choukri Fishere from the government's Commission to Protect the Democratic Process in reference to Egypt's new draft constitution.
A 50-member assembly has finished working on a draft constitution which will be put on a referendum in January.
After passing, it will replace the 2012 constitution that was suspended on July 3 by an order from Egypt's top army commander Abdel Fattah al-Sisi who also removed President Mohamed Morsi and called for early presidential and parliamentary elections.
The move came in the form of a roadmap announced by the army in response to millions of Egyptians who took to the streets to denounce the Muslim Brotherhood regime and the return to the January 25 goals.
Fishere concluded the situation in what he wrote, which most local and international politicians and researchers have agreed with, in these points:
l.This is not the best constitution known to man and it includes articles that I don't agree with and others that don't belong there. However, it establishes the principles of protecting rights and freedoms, and the principles of social justice and prosecuting the wrongdoers better than any of our previous constitutions;
2.The draft constitution doesn't fully meet the ambitions of the liberals nor the Islamists, or even the supporters of the security state. Instead, it includes elements that anger all of the groups mentioned above, which forces them to live alongside each other;
3.If you have no choice but to share your land with people who don't share your views and beliefs, you must accept a compromise between your views and theirs;
4)Any constitution reflects the political and social progress of a society and its political factions with its bad and its good and reflects some colours of the shared dream between these different groups.
Political activist and analyst Saad al-Din Ibrahim commented saying that there is no constitution that is agreed upon by an entire country, but an agreement from the majority is all that democracy asks for.
Ibrahim added that the 1923 constitution was the greatest constitution before the 1952 revolution, pointingout that the 2014 constitution is very similar to it, which is especially great because a large part of society participated in its making.
Ibrahim concluded his comment saying that the new constitution is the award of a revolution that broke Egyptians' fear and made most of them politically aware as opposed to how apathetic they were under the Mubarak regime.
Worries have risen in recent weeks that the new constitution sets the ground for more military rule in Egypt by people who intentionally misinterpret the following three articles relating to the army's role:
The first of these articles is related to trying civilians by military courts - even though the wording clearly states that no civilian can be tried by a military court unless they directly attack army institutions or members, which is a condition established in other constitution around the world.
The second article grants the army the right to keep its budget secret and the third article says the Supreme Council of Armed Forces needs to agree on who the president chooses to head the army.
This is only a transitional condition that was included to assure Egyptians that Defense Minister Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will not be betrayed and removed after he supported the people when they asked for Morsi's removal.
Compromise could also be seen with the Salafi Nour Party which participated in the writing of the constitution alongside more moderate religious figures like Al-Azharand other independents.
The Salafi Nour Party has called its supporters to vote "yes" on the draft constitution, explaining that it has achieved the maximum of what it could in light of the current consequences that Egypt is going through.
It is certain that the participation of the Nour Party and the representatives of the Al-Azhar and other independent Islamic figures prevented the dragging of the country into more division, violence and chaos.
It also deprived the Muslim Brotherhood and its supporters from painting the image as if it were not a political struggle but a struggle between Islam and seculars, liberals and Christians - when in fact it's a battle between the majority of the Egyptian people and an extremist entity which uses religious slogans for political gains.
The representatives of the church withdrew from last year's Islamist-led constituent assembly in protest against the articles related to the principles of Islamic law and how it should be implemented.
Meanwhile PopeTawadros II has actually called on Egyptians to vote for the draft constitution, saying that participation is a duty. He also described the draft constitution as balanced and an important step in Egypt's history and in the path to democracy, and considered that the representatives of the church exerted their best efforts in the process.
The happiness of Christians with the draft constitution cannot be compared with their shock at last year's now-suspended constitution, especially because this year's preamble stressed on the concept of unity and sharing the land.
Christian billionaire businessman Naguib Sawiris has said that the best thing about the 2014 constitution is that it was written under the consensus of the ultraconservative Nour Party, insisting that he will vote for it too. He added that the outcome of the referendum will tell the whole world that Morsi's ouster was a popular uprising and not a "coup" as some people describe it.
There are some concerns that the referendum process may be met with some violence from those who don't necessarily agree with the current roadmap and supporters of the ousted president. As soon as the assembly finished drafting the constitution and presented it to the interim president for ratification, the Brotherhood printed out a large number of fake copies. These fake copies include that Egypt is a secular country that grants atheists the right to practice their activities, among other things, and distributed them.
In response, the Egyptian army has prepared special teams to protect the constitutional referendum with the cooperation of the police to confront any chaos or threats.
The writer is Managing Editor, Al-Ahram newspaper.
E-mail: kgaballa@ahram.org.eg