Abdel Fatah El-Khatab, the representative of labour in the Constituent Assembly, has threatened to mobilise labour movements across Egypt against the new constitution if the assembly insists on cancelling the 50 per cent quota for workers and farmers in parliament.

In a press statement Sunday, El-Khatab, the under-secretary of the Egyptian Trade Union Federation, said that cancelling the 50 per cent representation quota, which was enshrined in the 1971 constitution, will deprive 77 per cent of Egyptians of proper representation, accusing some political parties of working to cancel their percentage in order to control two thirds of the elected body.

El-Khatab demanded that assembly members show more concern for the economic and social rights of Egypt's farmers and workers, in order to help achieve social justice.

El-Khatab also rejected limiting the membership of the upcoming Shura Council to university graduates.

Last week, Hossam El-Ghariany, head of the Constituent Assembly, outlined his objections to the 50 per cent workers and farmers quota, adding that it was a charade created by the July 1952 military regime.

The statements of El-Ghariany created controversy as well anger among worker and farmer activists, as well nationalists and Nasserists that regarded his stance as biased against the 1952 movement's social justice achievements.