German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday urged Egypt to return to a path of democratic transition as quickly as possible and to ensure that all political powers were included.
Egypt’s new constitutional decree sets out the next stages, she said, but added, “it is important that all political actors are included in this process… that is the only way for a true democratic process to take place in Egypt in our view.”
The decree calls for parliamentary elections in about six months and is the centrepiece of interim authorities’ efforts to drag Egypt out of crisis, after the military ousted elected President Mohamed Morsi last week.
Bloodshed since the ousting of Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected leader, has opened deep fissures in the Arab world’s most populous country, with bitterness at levels unseen in its modern history.
Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood movement refuses to take part in the political process and demands the deposed leader be reinstalled.
Source: Reuters
