Egypt’s Gamaa Islamiya group has criticised a drive by a constitution-drafting panel to ban political parties based on religion, saying the move reflects the constitutional committee’s “secularist face”. The panel has proposed the amendment of Article 54 of Egypt’s 2012 constitution in order to “ban the establishment of religion-based parties and religion-based political activity, which violate democratic principles.” Gamaa Islamiya, for its part, said the proposed amendment “aims to ban religion-based political parties and grants the authorities the right to ban any party on grounds that it violates the principles of democracy.” The group went on to argue that the proposed amendment would open the door to the establishment of political parties founded on an “atheistic” basis.
RELIGIOUS PARTY BAN SHOWS PANEL’S ‘SECULARIST FACE’
Egypt’s Gamaa Islamiya group has criticised a drive by a constitution-drafting panel to ban political parties based on religion, saying the move reflects the constitutional committee’s “secularist face”. The panel has proposed the amendment of Article 54 of Egypt’s 2012 constitution in order to “ban the establishment of religion-based parties and religion-based political activity,
