This phase will end on December 3, after which the constitution will be sent to the interim president for approval, and then to a popular referendum. Several of the more controversial articles have been agreed upon by the subcommittees, but will be brought before the entire body for further discussion.
According to Mohamed Ghoneim, the subcommittee decided that the text of the first article would read “Egypt is a sovereign civilian state,” (as opposed to a religious one), and that the third article would state that all “non-Muslim Egyptians… [are] allowed to exercise their religious rites.”
The voting process is set to be held in closed-door sessions that do not include alternate members, a decision that has caused an uproar among the alternates.
According to Salamwy, the alternates were permitted to participate in the discussion sessions, but the framework for the process stipulated that they not be present for the voting. A number of the alternates have threatened to contact the judiciary if they are prevented from voting on the final articles.