EGYPT/ El-Erian (Muslim Brotherhood): The Sharia guarantees Christians equal rights and duties

Essam el-Erian, Vice President of the Freedom and Justice party, connected to the Muslim Brotherhood, presented his official platform this Wednesday for the upcoming elections in Egypt, and started a petition to ask to be admitted to the electoral process. Ilsussidiario.net interviewed him to ask about the objectives of the party and other key questions for the future of Egypt.

El-Erian, what is the significance of this move by the Muslim Brotherhood?

What we want is a new Egypt, able to distance itself from the past through free elections. Our first objective is to obtain 30-35% of the seats in Parliament in order to then merge with a larger coalition which will represent all the political currents in Egypt and will form the new government.

Will you accept the al-Nahda party, which is linked to the Salafites, in this coalition?

It is far from our intention to form an alliance only with the Salafites.

What will your proposals be for a new Constitution?

The Constitution must reflect all Egyptians: Muslims and Christians, men and women, young people and older people. Those who develop the new, fundamental document will therefore have to find a balance between the different principles that the citizens believe in, establishing some counterweights for the different powers, guaranteeing the independence of the magistrate, and realizing a lay, democratic State with a rule of law, and with a reference to Islamic religion.

What would this reference consist in?

It would consist in affirming that the principles of the Sharia are the main source of the law, and that these principles are valid both for people and for institutions, beginning with Parliament and the Constitutional courts.

The Sharia has been present in the Constitution for decades. How do you intend to apply it?