Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood said Tuesday that it plans to form a political party once democracy is established. "The Muslim Brotherhood group believes in the freedom of the formation of political parties. They are eager to have a political party," spokesman Mohammed Mursi said in a statement on the Brotherhood website.
This came after the country's new military rulers launched a panel of experts to amend Egypt's constitution to allow democratic elections later this year.
According to the AP, the new panel is to draw up changes within 10 days to end the monopoly that the ruling party once held.
Among the panel's members is Sobhi Saleh, a former lawmaker from the Brotherhood. The eight-member committee, which met with Defense Minister Hussein Tantawi on Tuesday, also includes a Christian supreme court judge, along with other judges and legal experts. The panel is presided over by Tareq el-Bishri, a widely respected former judge.
