Presidential hopeful Mohamed Selim El-Awa during his Friday tour in the Giza districts of Aiyat and Hawamdeya meeting with area's Sheikh and Priest. (Photo:El-Awa campaign)
Presidential Hopeful Mohamed Selim El-Awa publicly demanded that the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party and the Salafist Nour Party make space for others on the constituent assembly that will draft Egypt's new constitution.
El-Awa, a candidate with well-known close ties with the Brotherhood, stated the assembly does not represent those who are non-parliament members and that there should be more non-parliamentarians on the committee.
His demands, made during one of his campaign tours on Friday, come amidst much objection from non-Islamists that the recently-formed assembly is dominated by Islamists. Islamists dominate parliament by 70 per cent, who, in turn, elected the constituent assembly members.
Contrary to voices of objection, El-Awa told in a televised interview on Zoom Sport on Wednesday that it was only democratic that the minority should abide by the beliefs of the majority and follow any decisions made by them, insisting the assembly was not Islamist-dominated. El-Awa did, however, object to the parliament's decision to dedicate 50 per cent of the constituent assembly membership to MPs alone, saying they should have only been assigned 20 per cent.
El-Awa also objected that Judge Abd El-Moez Ibrahim still sits on the Higher Presidential Electoral Commission supervising the presidential elections after a judicial scandal. Ibrahim's impartiality was highly questioned by many after he was accused of pressuring judges to lift a travel ban imposed on US-funded NGO workers under trial on charges of operating without permits.
On his presidential race, El-Awa claims he has already obtained 30 MP endorsements, as well as 25 thousand individual recommendations. To run for the elections, presidential candidates are required to either obtain a minimum of 30 endorsements from parliament members, 30 thousand recommendations from citizens of 15 different governorates or be registered as a candidate of a party that has one member in parliament.
El-Awa is a well-known Islamic thinker and writer. He is also a lawyer known for defending Islamist activists under the Mubarak regime, including members of the Muslim Brotherhood.
El-Awa has been in the limelight for several years with particular attention on his controversial stances on Coptic Egyptians and Shiite Muslims.
He declared his intention to run for president in June 2011.
Presidential elections will take place on 23 and 24 May, and the president will be named on 21 June after a runoff voting round on 16 and 17 June 2012.
Short link: