Constitutional process test for Egypt's future

More than a year after tens of thousands of Egyptians thronged Cairo's Tahrir Square to demand change, their revolution is nearing its real decision point.

The hopes and fears in those heady first weeks, the more recent electoral excitement and the continuing disruption of daily life have all been a mere prologue to this decisive phase: haggling over the fine print of the new order.

The new Egypt needs a new constitution, and so the cockpit of the whole revolution becomes the 100-member panel assigned to write one.

Unfortunately the process has begun ominously, with the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) dictating the timing and decreeing a very rapid pace. With parliamentary elections now completed, the SCAF has summoned the new lawmakers for Saturday to choose the 100 who will write the basic law. Presidential elections are set for June, and before then, the military says, the constitution must be written and confirmed by referendum, so all will know the extent of presidential powers.

This schedule reveals that the military is hijacking the process, and this does not bode well for the panel's freedom of choice. Three months is not nearly enough time for the wide-ranging national conversation and debate that are essential to wise constitutional compromises.

Many voices in Egypt had demanded that the soldiers relinquish power before the constitution-drafting begins. There was never much chance of that; the generals have long been at the apex of power in Egypt, operate profitable corporations and will not easily be dislodged. They will expect a preferred place in the new order. But while the SCAF will pressure the 100, so will the reformers of Tahrir Square and so will the political parties, notably the religious ones so successful in the elections.

Some speculate that the generals and the Muslim Brotherhood party, Freedom and Justice, have secretly agreed to share control; the generals overseeing economics and foreign affairs, the Islamist politicians over social matters.

We hope not; Egyptians deserve better. It is encouraging that Freedom and Justice says 40 of the 100 should be MPs and the others should include women, Islamic but also Christian scholars, and leaders from civil society.

A constitution matters. Written prudently, in a spirit of open compromise, it can guide those who rule under it towards the greater good. But a basic law railroaded in unilaterally can do no such thing.