Egyptian lawmakers clashed Saturday over who should have the right to draft the country's constitution, in a heated debate focusing on the influence of Islamists on the crucial document and how religiously conservative Egypt will be. The first meeting of Egypt's newly-elected 678-member parliament was focused on how to choose the 100 people who will be responsible for writing the country's first constitution after the overthrow of longtime leader Hosni Mubarak. Islamists want the parliament they control to have a dominant voice and liberals, fearful of too much Islamic influence, prefer a panel of outside experts and activists. Once the panel is seated, it will have six months to draft the constitution and then put it to a national referendum. Lawmakers Saturday said they'll announce the guidelines for picking the panel on March 17 — essentially how many would come from the Islamist-dominated parliament. On March 24, they'll announce the panel itself. The constitution debate centers on how much of a role conservative Islamists will have in writing the document and essentially how Islamic the country will be. The new constitution is expected to curb presidential powers and give parliament more authority, a drastic change of Egypt's political system and a gateway for Islamization of the country as long as Islamists keep their majority in parliament.
