CAIRO — Egypt’s newly empowered Islamists have tightened their grip, giving themselves a majority on a 100-member panel tasked with drafting a constitution that will define the shape of the government in the post-Hosni Mubarak era.
Led by the Muslim Brotherhood to victory in parliamentary elections, fundamentalists now have their eyes set on the next prize: the presidency.
The new constitution will decide whether Islam will gain even more strength in Egypt, abandoning decades of secular traditions that made the nation a top U.S. ally and a bulwark against extremism.
The charter also will determine whether the decades-old system of a powerful president will be maintained or, instead, an empowered parliament under Islamist domination will set the tone.
“We don’t want another pharaoh,” said Yasser Burhami, a leader of the ultraconservative Salafi movement whose followers have won 25 percent of parliament’s seats. “We want a political system that is half parliamentary and half presidential.”
A list of names published Sunday by the country’s official news agency showed that the panel will have nearly 60 Islamists, including 37 legislators selected the day before by parliament’s two chambers. The second half of the panel comprises public figures, also selected by members of parliament.
