Egypt’s SCAF head meets political parties over representation

Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi Cairo – Akram Ali Egypt’s ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) held a meeting on Tuesday with 19 political powers to discuss the crisis over forming the Constituent Assembly. Head of SCAF, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi and Chief of Staff Samy Anan,  met with political party members including the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), the Salafi Al-Nour, Al-Assala and the Free Egyptians parties.
In a SCAF statement, following the meeting, Tantawi warned of the challenges facing Egypt during this phase which is considered the most important phase since the revolution.
It’s worth mentioning that, within the last 48 hours, a number of liberals and leftists have withdrawn from the assembly in protest at what they see as the unfair distribution of assembly seats to those of Islamist orientations, particularly the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafists.
Also on Tuesday,  Egypt's State Council’s Administrative Court set April 10 as the date to rule on lawsuits challenging the validity of the constituent assembly.
In their lawsuits, the plaintiffs said the assembly does not represent all of Egyptian society, and violates the norms for writing a true constitution, as it was dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party and the Salafi-led Nour Party.
They also pointed out that  women and Coptic Christians are not represented in the assembly, and called for the formation of another assembly entirely from outside both houses of Parliament in order to preserve the balance of power for the next constitution to truly express the wishes of all Egyptians.
The session witnessed scuffles between supporters and opponents of the assembly, while hundreds of people gathered outside the State Council to denounce it.
According to the state-owned Al-Akhbar newspaper, the meeting also discussed the unfolding crisis between the government and parliament, presidential election procedures,  and Article 28 of  the constitutional declaration issued by the (SCAF) in March 2011 which does not allow appeals against decisions of the Presidential Elections Commission.
The meeting was also attended by Mohamed Morsy, president of the Freedom and Justice Party, al-Sayed al-Badawy, president of the Wafd Party, Emad Abdel Ghafour, president of the Nour Party, Mostafa al-Naggar, president of the Adl Party, Hossam Badrawi, president of the Itihad Party, Anwar Sadat, president of the Asala Party, together with independent MPs Mostafa Bakry and Marian Malak, who also attended the meeting.