Egyptian Islamists, who control the recently elected parliament, are on track to consolidate their hold over politics after the selection of a panel that will draft the country’s new constitution. They will have a large majority on the panel according to a final list published on Sunday, a day after parliament elected its members during a session which witnessed the withdrawal of parliamentarians representing liberal and leftist forces.
The panel was chosen at a meeting of the upper and lower chambers in parliament which is itself dominated by Freedom and Justice, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, and by Nour, an ultraconservative Islamist party.
Last week parliament voted that half the members of the panel should come from within its ranks – a move which was criticised by secular groups who fear that the constitution will reflect Islamist preferences rather than the broad range of opinion in Egyptian society. Six women and six Christians are on the list, but more than two-thirds of the members represent Islamists, according to local media.
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