Egypt to Amend Constitution Amidst Political Division

According to Reuters, the Egyptian military has tasked a panel of 10 legal experts this past Sunday to present proposed changes to the constitution within 30 days for review before a broader-based body.

Ali Awad Saleh, a judge and the constitutional affairs adviser for the newly installed president, chaired Sunday's panel, saying it would spend the next week receiving ideas from "citizens, political parties, and all sides".

Egypt’s new constitution was approved in a referendum last year, but was criticized for its lack of protections for human rights, minorities, and social justice.

Khaled Dawoud, spokesman for the National Salvation Front, Egypt’s main secular political alliance, called the committee’s work “a very positive development.”

However, the Muslim Brotherhood does not seem willing to communicate with either the new administration or the army, instead holding fast to its demand for the full restoration of Mursi, who has been held in an undisclosed location since his downfall on July 3.

Some analysts have expressed doubts about the effort to revise the constitution, due to the lack of political consensus in Egypt, impeding the country’s transition into democracy following the 2011 fall of longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

Flickr Photo by: Darla Hueske

STORY WRITTEN BY: SPOON JUNG