Islamists confident Egyptians want Sharia

Egyptian Islamist group Jamaa Islamiya and its political arm, the Construction and Development Party (CDP) will not join the proposed protests against the constitution draft, an official said. The group’s spokesperson Tarek al-Zamor said the protest, organised by Islamist groups, is to demand the Constituent Assembly to draft a new constitution that guarantees the implementation of Sharia laws in Egypt. Al-Zomor said the Jamaa Islamiya sees no need for the proposed pro-Sharia protests, "as we are confident that Egyptians will never approve the new constitution unless it states Sharia will be implemented.” "We want focus our efforts instead on replacing the current public prosecutor with one who can restore the rights of the martyrs who were killed by the ousted regime during the 2011 revolution," he said. Al-Zamor expressed his confidence that the Islamists could win a greater majority of seats than the 77 percent they won in 2011. However, he urged the Islamists to unite under one coalition to enhance their chances in the next election. "The Egyptians will elect the Islamists because they are leaning towards the Islamist ideology and will remain the same for at least few decades to come," he said. Al-Zamor said his group is against receiving foreign loans, referring to Egypt’s loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He said they believe these loans are meant only to weaken Arab countries' economies and to keep these countries dependent on the western powers. Al-Zamor said his group supported the assembly and insisted that the articles drafted by it so far are "the best constitutional articles Egypt has seen throughout its history."