In Protest, Islamists Quit Egypt Council

In Protest, Islamists Quit Egypt Council

By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK

Published: December 8, 2011

CAIRO — The Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group whose political party is leading in parliamentary elections here, on Thursday accused Egypt’s interim military rulers of attempting to undermine the legislature’s authority and interfering in the writing of a new constitution.

The Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party said it was withdrawing from an advisory council being formed by the military leaders, saying that the military was trying to give the new council a major role in writing the constitution.

On Wednesday, a member of the military council told a small group of Western journalists that to limit the power of a potential Islamist majority in the new Parliament, the military planned to give the new advisory council and the military-led cabinet major roles in forming a constitutional assembly. Gen. Mukhtar al-Mulla of the military council contended during the briefing that the newly elected Parliament would not represent the will of the broader Egyptian public.

The military council’s new plan and the Brotherhood’s response mark the beginning of a new round in an escalating conflict between the two sides — the military, Egypt’s most powerful institution, and the Brotherhood, its strongest political force — over the drafting of the Constitution and the military’s future role.

After taking over with the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak in February, the military council initially said that a new Parliament would be elected and would then oversee the selection of a constitutional assembly to write a new charter. But it has since tried to circumscribe that power. In November, the military-led government sought to spell out a set of guidelines for the new constitution that included a permanent political role for the military as well as protection from civilian budgetary oversight, but it withdrew the proposals after a week of protest demonstrations by the Brotherhood and liberal groups.

Mohamed Saad Katatni, secretary general of the Brotherhood’s political party, said in a statement on Thursday that it had joined the advisory council on the understanding that it would give advice and opinion to the military rulers only until Parliament was seated. Mr. Katatni said the group had decided to withdraw because the military’s expanded mission for the advisory body amounted to “a derogation of the legislative institution and interference in the preparation of the Constituent Assembly which will draft Egypt’s new Constitution.”

Mayy el Sheikh contributed reporting.