A National Salvation Front press conference, January 2013, (Photo: AP).
The National Salvation Front (NSF) – Egypt's main alliance of liberal and leftist parties – has withdrawn its rejection of Monday's constitutional declaration outlining the country's post-Morsi transitional roadmap.
The declaration was issued by interim leader Adly Mansour, the head of Egypt's High Constitutional Court, who was appointed president by the military after it ousted Mohamed Morsi last week following huge nationwide protests.
"Officials responsible for formulating this declaration failed to discuss it with political and youth forces in contravention to previous promises," the Front had said in an earlier statement on Tuesday night, a sentence omitted in the second statement.
Spokesperson Khaled Dawood said the Front's earlier statement had been released by mistake.
The Front said it still had reservations about some articles in the declaration and would send the interim president detailed recommendations about the changes it wanted to see.
The constitutional declaration was issued after the constitution was temporarily suspended following Morsi's removal. It sets forth a framework for amending the controversial 2012 constitution – one of the anti-Morsi opposition's main demands – and early presidential elections, the main demand of millions of anti-Morsi protesters on 30 June.
The constitutional declaration also received criticism from other groups.
The Rebel (Tamarod) movement, which spearheaded anti-Morsi protests on 30 June, said it was not consulted about the 33-article declaration.
“The constitutional declaration was not presented to us or Dr [Mohamed] ElBaradei,” Rebel spokesperson Mahmoud Badr wrote on Facebook, referring to the NSF leader who was appointed vice president for foreign relations on Tuesday.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate ElBaradei and Rebel are both representing the anti-Morsi opposition during talks with interim president Adly Mansour.
The declaration has been criticised for giving wide powers to the president and only a consultative role to the cabinet, which the anti-Morsi opposition had wanted to be more powerful.
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