The final sessions of Egypt’s constitution-drafting panel will be held in public and alternate members will be allowed to attend, panel head Amr Moussa has said.
Moussa made the comments during a meeting on Monday with representatives of the 50 alternate (substitute) panel members who have been barred from attending earlier sessions due to space constraints.
Following Monday’s meeting, alternate members’ representative Salah Abdullah told Al-Ahram Arabic news website that Moussa had rejected their request to attend earlier sessions. Alternate panel members will meet on Wednesday to discuss a possible escalation to what Abdullah said was an unsuccessful meeting with Moussa.
The decision by the panel’s procedures committee to hold recent sessions behind closed doors and to bar alternate members has stirred intense debate among some members of the main panel.
Following the decision, Mohamed Salmawy, media spokesperson for the main 50-member panel, said closed sessions would prevent conflicting media reports that might confuse the public. A press conference is held after each session to deliver formal statements on the debates.
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Following a month of dialogue by six subcommittees, the panel began its final deliberations on 22 October, and will vote on a final version before putting it up for public discussion.
This phase is scheduled to conclude on 3 December, when the draft will be referred to interim President Adly Mansour, then put to a national referendum.
The panel was tasked by the interim government with preparing an amended draft of the 2012 constitution, as part of the transitional roadmap announced by the military following the ouster of president Mohamed Morsi in July.
Source: Ahram Online
