The Parliamentary Group of al-Wafd Party has approved the position statement submitted by the Party's Leader Mahmoud Abaza regarding the proposed Constitutional amendments. The statement has called for setting up a Constitution Society to draft the amendments.

The Party further seeks to raise public awareness of Constitutional issues by holding an open-ended dialogue which seeks to ensure national consensus over Constitutional and political reforms in Egypt.

According to the Statement, al-Wafd agrees in principle to the following amendments:

1. Adapting constitutional provisions to suit the existing economic and social conditions.

2. Replacing the "working-forces-of-the-people" formula with that of "citizenship".

3. Banning the establishment of political parties based on religion, race or ethnicity.

4. Selecting the election system which guarantees best representation of political parties in Parliament and an active role of women in political life and in Parliament (Articles 62 & 94).

5. Granting the People's Assembly the right to introduce changes to the State General Budget and to control State expenditures and resources (Articles 115 & 118). The party also proposes promoting Parliament's legislative and supervisory authorities (Articles 127, 133, 136, 194 & 195).

6. Guaranteeing a stronger role of the Council of Ministers by expanding the scope of authorities for which it is accountable to the Parliament (Articles 138 & 141).

7. Abolishing the Supreme Council of the Judiciary and the position of Socialist Prosecutor-General (Article 173).

8. Assigning more legislative powers to the Shura Council which brings Egypt's Parliament closer to a bi-cameral legislative system.

Al-Wafd Party, however, maintains the following position in regard to a number of amendments:

1. It is essential to maintain Articles 40 through 63 on Public Freedoms, Rights and Duties. Meanwhile, a counter-terrorism Act should by no means infringe on the Judiciary as the authority responsible for protecting freedoms. Nor should Emergency Law become part of the Constitution.

2. Article 74 upholding the President's right to take urgent action to face threats to national unity or the country's safety is considered redundant given that it would be much easier to declare a state of emergency.

3. The amendment proposed to Article 76 is still far beneath what is required to guarantee serious candidacy conditions for the President's position.

4. Article 77 should return to its original text of 1980, limiting the President's term of office to just two terms in order to ensure power-sharing through the voting process.

5. It is essential not to infringe on the judicial supervision of the election process, in any of its aspects (Article 88).

6. Members of Parliament should be completely devoted to work in the chambers as an unbreakable rule to ensure separation of powers.

7. The validity of Parliament membership (or the lack thereof) is a matter to be settled by law.

The Party has further urged the gradual decentralization of the municipalities.