The Clarion Project, by Ryan Mauro
Securlarists are running into a major Catch-22: while the constitution bans religious political parties, it also states that sharia is the main source of law.
Egyptian women celebrate the ouster of Egypt's Islamist president Mohammed Morsi in 2013. (Photo: © Reuters)A campaign in Egypt to ban religion-based political parties has collected 1.25 million signatures and has won an endorsement from the Ministry of Endowments. The organizers argue that 12 parties should be dissolved because they violate the Egyptian constitution's ban on sectarian-based and religion-based parties.
Tamarod, the movement that led the mass protests against the Muslim Brotherhood and President Morsi, is pushing the campaign. Secular-democratic activists fear a repeat of an Islamist takeover through the ballot box. The Egyptian government approves of the campaign, but the decision rests with the courts.
"Political parties based on religious foundations only lead to discrimination among citizens on sectarian grounds…a Muslim nation like Egypt should not discriminate among Muslims and non-Muslims," said Sabry Ebada, the deputy of the Ministry of Endowments.
The result of the campaign has big repercussions for the future because of the questions it raises about applying the 2014 Egyptian constitution, particularly about how to handle contradictions between its stated commitment to democracy and Article 2's statement that "the principles of Islamic Sharia are the main sources of legislation."
Article 74 states:
"No political activity may be practiced and no political parties may be formed on the basis of religion or discrimination based on sex, or origin, or sectarian basis or geographic location. No activity that is hostile to democratic principles, secretive, or of military or quasi-military nature may be practiced."
Political parties can only be dissolved on a judge's ruling, so citizens have been filing lawsuits.
The biggest target of the campaign is the Al-Nour Party, an Islamist party that supported the overthrow of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013. In December 2011, the strength of the Salafists stunnedobservers when Al-Nour took 22% of the vote in the parliamentary elections, second only to the Muslim Brotherhood with 45%. With the Muslim Brotherhood officially banned as a terrorist group, there is a risk that many Islamists will unite behind Al-Nour in the parliamentary elections that begin October 18.
For their party, Al-Nour party has responded by saying they'll simply run candidates as independents or register a new party if they banned. It is also using the same ridiculous argument that the Muslim Brotherhood did by saying that Al-Nour is a political party that doesn't campaign on religion and is legally separate from the religious group (Salafist Call).
"We are not a religious party. We are just a political party with a religious background," says Al-Nour official Shaaban Abdel-Alim.
Critics of the campaign say that Al-Nour and other Islamist parties are in compliance with the constitution because of Article 2's defining of Egypt as a state based on Islam. They argue that Article 74 is referring to religious parties that are exclusive to Muslims whereas Al-Nour accepts Christian members.
Moreover, the Islamists are trying to turn the tables on the secularist by saying that Article 2 means that secular parties who do not favor sharia governance are in violation of the constitution and must be banned.
"Those parties promote a Western lifestyle in which homosexuality and other vices are allowed," Salafist Call official Sameh Abdel Hamid retorted.
One of the leaders of the campaign and co-founder of the Egyptian Secular Party, Hesham Ouf, conceded that the court might rule in the Islamists' favor due to Article 2. He said the next step would be a campaign to remove Article 2 from the constitution.
The Egyptian government is trying to thread the needle by calling for a reformation in Islamic interpretation and by defining political Islam (Islamism) as a threat that is distinct from Islam. A panel commissioned by the Egyptian government recommended banning all Islamist political parties and waging a campaign "against the reactionary ideology of these factions which like to mix religion with politics."
A straight-forward reading of the Egyptian constitution makes it evident that parties with religion-based platforms are forbidden. Banning Al-Nour and other Islamist parties for their incompatibility with democracy would be a major step in the right direction.
Comments