Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They
AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German
Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
Edition:
U.S.
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
Home
Business
Business Home
Economy
Technology
Media
Small Business
Legal
Deals
Earnings
Social Pulse
Business Video
The Freeland File
Markets
Markets Home
U.S. Markets
European Markets
Asian Markets
Global Market Data
Indices
M&A
Stocks
Bonds
Currencies
Commodities
Futures
Funds
peHUB
World
World Home
U.S.
Brazil
China
Euro Zone
Japan
Mexico
Russia
India Insight
World Video
Reuters Investigates
Decoder
Politics
Politics Home
Election 2012
Tales from the Trail
Political Punchlines
Supreme Court
Politics Video
Tech
Technology Home
MediaFile
Science
Tech Video
Tech Tonic
Social Pulse
Opinion
Opinion Home
Chrystia Freeland
John Lloyd
Felix Salmon
Jack Shafer
David Rohde
Bernd Debusmann
Nader Mousavizadeh
Lucy P. Marcus
David Cay Johnston
Bethany McLean
Edward Hadas
Hugo Dixon
Ian Bremmer
Lawrence Summers
Susan Glasser
The Great Debate
Steven Brill
Jack & Suzy Welch
Frederick Kempe
Christopher Papagianis
Breakingviews
Equities
Credit
Private Equity
M&A
Macro & Markets
Politics
Breakingviews Video
Money
Money Home
Tax Break
Lipper Awards 2012
Global Investing
MuniLand
Unstructured Finance
Linda Stern
Mark Miller
John Wasik
James Saft
Analyst Research
Alerts
Watchlist
Portfolio
Stock Screener
Fund Screener
Personal Finance Video
Money Clip
Investing 201
Life
Health
Sports
Arts
Faithworld
Business Traveler
Entertainment
Oddly Enough
Lifestyle Video
Pictures
Pictures Home
Reuters Photographers
Full Focus
Video
Reuters TV
Reuters News
Article
Comments (0)
Full Focus
Editor's choice
Our best photos from the last 24 hours. See more
Images of May
Follow Reuters
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
YouTube
Read
China ready to impound EU planes in CO2 dispute
12 Jun 2012
Father backs witness of sex abuse in Sandusky case
11:58am EDT
"Goodfellas" mobster Henry Hill dies at age 69
9:35am EDT
Analysis: Endless QE? $6 trillion and counting
4:03am EDT
Italy's Monti urges political backing in euro crisis
12:11pm EDT
Discussed
136
Exclusive: Drones ”inhumane”, dead al Qaeda man’s family says
109
Obama: U.S. economy ”not doing fine”, action needed
77
China could impound European planes in carbon row
Watched
Jolie releases video for U.N. World Refugee Day
Tue, Jun 12 2012
U.S. Morning Call: It's all about Dimon's billion $$ apology
7:57am EDT
Face-chew victim 'progressing'
5:12am EDT
Pictures
Reuters Photojournalism
Our day's top images, in-depth photo essays and offbeat slices of life. See the best of Reuters photography. See more
Escape from Alcatraz
This week marks the fiftieth anniversary of the daring three man escape from the island prison. Slideshow
Colorado wildfire
The High Park Fire has scorched an estimated 43,000 acres. Slideshow
New Egypt constitution body faces fresh challenge
Tweet
Share this
Email
Print
Related News
Ex-military man taps Islamist fears in Egypt vote
12:27pm EDT
Analysis & Opinion
How Occupy Wall Street (mostly) won me over
Will Syria’s Assad get away with murder
Related Topics
World »
Egypt »
By Yasmine Saleh
CAIRO |
Wed Jun 13, 2012 12:27pm EDT
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's parliament has for the second time approved an assembly to draft a new constitution after the first attempt was criticized for including too many Islamists.
But the list of 100 names immediately triggered similar objections from liberals and Christians, raising the prospect of fresh legal challenges to the new assembly in the courts - the latest hurdle in Egypt's bumpy transition to democracy.
The delays mean the new president will not know the extent of his powers when he is elected in a run-off vote this weekend.
Islamists hold about two-thirds of the seats in parliament, leading to fears among liberals that they will again be sidelined in the new Egypt, despite their contribution to the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak's military-backed autocracy last year.
The presidential run-off adds to those fears, pitting Mohamed Mursi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, against Ahmed Shafik, a former air force general who was Mubarak's last prime minister.
The main parties in parliament said last week they had reached agreement on the shape of the constitutional assembly, and both houses approved the list late on Tuesday.
"This assembly saw many twists that hindered it for some time, but in the end it was formed to represent all Egyptian groups," parliamentary speaker Saad al-Katatni told a joint session of both houses.
Katatni, who resigned from the Muslim Brotherhood's party to take the speaker's post, said the list included 33 people from political parties including members of parliament, as well as constitutional experts, judicial figures, Christian and Muslim clerics, union members and representatives of the army, police, government and Egypt's youth.
However, some liberal and independent members walked out in protest on Tuesday before the final agreement, saying the list would under-represent women, intellectuals, and the Christians who make up a 10th of Egypt's 82 million people.
Amen Eskander, a member of parliament for the Al-Karama Party, said there would be too many Islamists in the assembly, "just like in the previous one".
Egypt's Coptic Orthodox, Anglican and Catholic churches withdrew their representatives from the first assembly, but have so far indicated they will remain in the latest one. Together those churches secured seven seats.
Egypt's prestigious al-Azhar seat of Sunni learning has five seats. It also withdrew from the first body in solidarity with liberals, churches and others.
HANDOVER OF POWER
The ruling generals have pledged to hand power to a new president by July 1 as the climax of almost a year and a half of messy and often bloody transition to civilian rule, but the failure to establish a clear path towards a new constitution suggests more turbulence ahead.
All sides agree to the principle that the constitutional assembly should reflect a broad cross-section of society, but Islamists and liberals have argued about how the process is implemented in practice.
Egyptians want above all a constitution that distributes power more fairly than the one that underpinned Mubarak's rule.
Among the issues likely to stir most debate are the extent of presidential and parliamentary powers and the degree to which Islamic law, or sharia, will be applied.
The deal reached last week said there would be a broad 50-50 liberal-Islamist split in the assembly.
But rifts emerged almost at once when liberals accused the Islamists of filling the nominal liberal contingent with people from Islamic ideological backgrounds, such as Muslim clerics from al-Azhar.
Liberal and leftist parties said on Monday they would renounce their seats in the new assembly.
One member of parliament who withdrew, Abul Ezz el-Hariry, said he would challenge the new list in court.
Hariry, a presidential candidate who fell out of the race in the first round last month, was among a group of liberals and lawyers who successfully challenged the first assembly in April.
"An assembly in which Egyptians do not see themselves (represented) is the end of a transition in which they have been trying to kill the revolution and confiscate the future," said reformist politician Mohamed ElBaradei.
The Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party played down the liberals' criticism and walkout from parliament.
"The withdrawal of some members does not represent a general theme," Brotherhood leader Farid Ismail told reporters outside the meeting hall. Katatni said 85 percent of eligible members of parliament took part in the process of choosing the assembly.
Another former presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahy also rejected the new panel's make-up. "The way the assembly was formed by indicates a continuation of the tendency to seek domination (by one group) and exclusion of others," Sabahy said.
"The revolutionary powers will not let one party exclusively write the constitution," he said.
(Additional reporting by Dina Zayed; Editing by Edmund Blair and Kevin Liffey)
World
Egypt
Tweet this
Link this
Share this
Digg this
Email
Reprints
We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/
Comments (0)
Be the first to comment on reuters.com.
Add yours using the box above.
Edition:
U.S.
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
Back to top
Reuters.com
Business
Markets
World
Politics
Technology
Opinion
Money
Pictures
Videos
Site Index
Legal
Bankruptcy Law
California Legal
New York Legal
Securities Law
Support & Contact
Support
Corrections
Connect with Reuters
Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
RSS
Podcast
Newsletters
Mobile
About
Privacy Policy
Terms of Use
AdChoices
Copyright
Our Flagship financial information platform incorporating Reuters Insider
An ultra-low latency infrastructure for electronic trading and data distribution
A connected approach to governance, risk and compliance
Our next generation legal research platform
Our global tax workstation
Thomsonreuters.com
About Thomson Reuters
Investor Relations
Careers
Contact Us
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.