Amr Darrag: Completion of Drafting New Constitution Late August

Dr. Amr Darrag, Secretary-General of the Constituent Assembly (CA) entrusted with authoring Egypt’s new Constitution, said that shortly five Special Committees will submit proposed initial texts for drafting national charter articles in accordance with relevant rules.

He added that he expected the authoring process to be completed in late August 2012.

Dr. Darrag pointed that the Egyptian constitution-drafting committee will begin its first meeting on Sunday, and will form a technical support committee, consisting of 25 experts, as the first concrete step before starting to draft constitution articles that have been agreed upon.

He stressed that the constitution drafting committee will begin by setting rules to govern its work, and will then receive proposals from the ‘hearing committees’ in order to take into account the community’s vision before consulting with the Special Committees, in preparation for drafting articles of constitution sections that have been completed, especially the Rights and Freedoms section, which has been finalized, and the Basic Components of Society section, which the CA is about to complete.

Dr. Darrag further pointed that the Drafting Committee will receive the first proposals during the second week of Ramadan, and will begin its work re-drafting of properly submitted proposals. These are then to be presented later on to the CA for consultation.

Regarding the Shura Council’s position, in the new constitution, Dr. Darrag said: "This has not been decided yet. There is a proposal, on the matter, before the System of Governance Committee. It is expected to be decided within a week".

Earlier, the Bureau of the Constituent Assembly had endorsed at its last meeting the formation of the Drafting Committee, a group of advisers, legal experts and politicians from both inside and outside the CA, including Justice Hossam Ghariani, CA Chairman, Dr. Atef Al-Banna, Dr. Ayman Nour, Dr. Wahid Abdel Meguid, Dr. Manar El-Shorbagy, Dr. Hassan El-Shafei, Dr. Mohamed Yousry, Amr Moussa, Sobhi Saleh, Abul-Ela Madi, and Justice Mohamed Abdel-Salam.