|
Al-Akhbar Forum(1):Constitutional amendments place woman on political map 21-1-2007
The Al-Akhbar Dialogue Forum goes on tackling the proposed constitutional amendments where this episode tackles the issues of citizenship, the civil state, boosting parties, the ban of exercising any political activity on a religious basis and the woman's representation in the parliament. At the very beginning, Mohamed Barakat, Editor-in-Chief of the daily Al-Akhbar, said the proposed constitutional amendments tackle the issue of citizenship and the civil state, being one of the most important principles of the modernization of the constitution. This is by confirming the concept of citizenship, its values and principles in order to realize equality before the law regarding the rights and duties of all citizens with no discrimination due to one's doctrine or religion.
The second issue included in the proposed constitutional amendments is the necessity of boosting pluralism and partisan work to bring about powerful political parties capable of enriching the democratic experience by amending the third and the fourth paragraphs of Article 76. The third issue tackled by the proposed constitutional amendments is the empowerment of the woman by amending articles 62 and 94 to enable the lawmaker to choose the best electoral system which in turn ensures the best representation of the parties in the parliament. This is plus enabling the woman to participate effectively in the political life.
Dr. Shawki el-Sayyed, member of the Shura Council, confirmed that all realize the change seen in the political life in Egypt by giving the opportunity to all people to express their opinions and orientations. El-Sayyed added that citizenship is one of the most important issues tackled in the proposed amendments, regarding it as a very positive step toward realizing social and democratic stability. The empowerment of the woman is based on the choice of an electoral system capable of promoting the woman's role, added el-Sayyed.
El-Sayyed also discussed the amendments that would be introduced to Article 5 pertaining to the exercise of the political activity as he proposed the expansion of the amendment to include the ban of exercising any political activity on a religious basis.
Dr. Samir Fayyad, the Vice-President of Tagmua Party, said the issue of citizenship is the real entry toward the constitutional change, yet it is important to activate it. Dr. Mohamed Kamal, Secretary of Training in the NDP, said the constitutional amendments are the major to be introduced to the Constitution since 1971 given that they tackle the issues of citizenship and the rights of citizens.
|