Islamist Aboul Fotouh urges ‘no’ vote against Egypt’s draft constitution

Egypt’s former Islamist presidential candidate Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh has urged Egyptians to vote “no” against a draft constitution in the upcoming constitutional referendum.

The founder of the Strong Egypt Party said in a videotaped statement that there are three main reasons why Egyptians should vote “no” against the constitution.

“First, there is a weakness in achieving the social justice we have talked about so much with regards to issues of health, disabilities, unemployment and wages,” he said.

“The second major issue is the dominance of the military establishment, giving it a special status, and forming military courts and subjecting civilians to military trials,” Aboul Fotouh said.

“We do not want for the Egyptian military, which we are proud of, to have any relationship with politics and economy,” Aboul Fotouh he added.

Following protests prompted by a presidential decree last month to claim sweeping powers and a subsequent decree to call for the referendum, the Egyptian military’s role in politics returned to the public eye, when the establishment urged dialogue between political powers.

At the time, Abul-Fotouh rejected any role of the army in the crisis, criticizing the military’s statement.

The former member of the Muslim Brotherhood said his party also objects to the authorities of the president as laid out in the draft constitution.

“We all demanded, from day one, that Egypt’s political system be presidential and parliamentary, only to find that the authorities of the president are almost unchanged,” He said.

“Even more, those authorities were expanded as to include the formation of some surveillance systems and other special [government] organs,” Aboul Fotouh added.

Some political powers in Egypt have called for the boycott of Saturday’s vote. Aboul Fotouh accused some of those parties of having taken the boycott path to settle political disputes and fulfill ‘foreign agendas.”

He said his party has chosen to participate in “the democratic process” and vote “no” for the draft constitution.


* Watch the full interview with Egyptian moderate Islamist Aboul Fotouh on the following link:
http://english.alarabiya.net/videos/20121214-aboulfotouhinterview.html