egyptians suffer day to day from more extreme challenging conditions. we're over 30% who are under the poverty line of income of $2 per day. and these people even suffered more during this transient government having a very good performance, and not only this, they're make up more problems in terms of gas, bread and transportation and many different problems. so time is not in favor of those people whom which represent. we are very sensitive to the needs of those people. ask our parliamentarians, and they will tell you that people are actually suffering day in and day out. when we spoke to the representation from the u.s. government, the entire world community is waiting for a new representative government to be able to talk. so again, time is not in our favor. so we have to work against it.

the mechanism that was chosen, in terms of a solution, chose also an extended list, they also voted for 40 people as an extension to this. so practically speaking, and the 40 is also a diverse selection. and so we have 40 people who can replaces those who we fail to bring back. i said fail because if we can't bring them back we have a problem that we have to solve. but we have to move on in the process. >> let's move to tunis, we want the good news as well. >> throughout time. >> translator: i was part of this conference and i noticed that if this center were to open

and a center in tunisia to learn more close by about what's happening in north africa, it will be a good opportunity. in reality, in tunisia there is a very strong energy or force represented in the spirit of tunisian people who decided to launch a very peaceful revolution, that presented all the various parties in tunisia. particularly the u.s. generation, which grew up under the dictator ship and this is the arab generation whose spirit and energy wants to change this course. a course in which a young person, whether man, woman and even children could not express

the simplest expression of freedom. woe used to live not only in a dictatorship was a police state, which controlled every aspect of the tune news itunisian's life. now in a sense of writing the constitution, it's clear that the tunisian people have chosen to include all political parties in the drafting of this constitution. and to clarify this point, i would like to -- i remember that they in with the first constituent assembly met, it includes very -- a large number of young people, including myself and also some people who have also spend, like my friend for 17 years in jail including ten years in solitary confinement and we're not

talking even about torture and other people who have struggled from various parties and intellectual and ideological backgrounds, we all met in a beautiful building of parliament and for the first time after many years, the -- we could not express the feeling that prevailed when all the tunisian people were looking directly at the parliament. to video these sessions, we have

facebook and also to express their views. so when we met for the first time, the statement that this anthem had and it read like this, if the people decided it will live, then it will live. so any people that wants to respect life, it's all embodied in the national anthem and this spirit is far stronger than any difference than is currently existing when it comes to drafting the constitution and if there are demands from different parties, then it's all being expressed peacefully and that tunisian people have proved their ability to express their views in a democratic and civilized manner. and for example, one day we'll have a discussion of the role of

the -- then the next day we have a party that is opposed to that. this is the democratic spirit that we are living even before the drafting of the constitution. so you can imagine how it's going to be like after the constitution is drafted. and we believe that the differences in writing the constitution will be very minor. so i would like to talk directly that tunisian model has very strong point, which is the fact that the democratic steps are

very clear and evident to all tunisian citizens. and the elections have bestowed legitimacy on us. and the main problem that the arab countries face is that the leaders lack legitimacy and that they oppress the people and use all forms of violence against the people. therefor our biggest achievement was legitimacy, andthrough this legitimacy, nobody can question the authority of the constituent assembly to draft the constitution. and if the agreement could not be reached, then we would put the issue up to the people to decide. the other issue is that we need also a legitimate government and

this is another clear step in the democratic process that is very clear to the tunisians and -- which is that they need to elect a legitimate government, a legitimate president for the first time in the history of the country. and for the first time in the history of the country, also, we have the ministers and the members of parliament sit side by side. so the new government and the past government sat side by side next to each other and this is unusual and this is what the tunisian people would like too see. therefore legitimacy was one of the have been clear steps that outlined the model of democratic transition and all citizens were able to see it and see the process that we're going to follow. the legitimacy of constituency assembly will end on the day the

constitution is drafted and will not continue to be needed. it will give a very clear model and the broad space for dialogue and also some -- gives comforted to the tunisians, another point that represents a basis or foundation for the next stage is the search for conciliation. this is very important for the movement and this is something it seeks, it seeks to achieve the greatest measure of harmony. we decided that tunisia at this

stage needs a government in which all parties are represented. and another one to prove that all these years in which we lived as islamic movements, with the assumption that we could not cope with democracy and also live side by side with leftist groups, we managed to prove that we are able to reach agreement with the other parties, including the leftist parties. and therefore i think in next stage, we can prove also provide a very real model for agreement in harmony. and also another point is that the people also have the right to engage in the drafting of the

constitution to take -- tasked which writing specific segments of the constitution. all of this makes the democratic course in tunisia. the differences over the regime that we would like to adopt, is a democratic regime is it presidential or a parliamentary system. in reality, this is not a major difference because regardless of the system, we are not going back to the authoritarian regime. and even if we decide on a presidential system, it will be bound by the constitution and by the will of human rights and the party is only the model of --

even with respect to issues of women as we know that islamic movements had an issue with female representation in parliame parliament. we know the members of the party who are not related in the constituent assembly are 43 women and any party in the u.s. and -- which party in the u.s. or europe has such high level of female representation. the other point that i would like to point to is that we would like to reach a very broad agreement on the constitution. and also to address some of the issues that are not basically understood and nobody has a plan for a model that is the best solution to all the economic problems. therefore the best way to resolve these issues is to reach

consensus and also engage in dialogue. and now members of government are not ruling the way they did from their offices and now they go down the streets and they talk to the people where strikes are being held. and they also go to other areas of the country. this is a conviction, not just a policy and we will continue to work on -- working on this conviction -- -- for this occasion we're very hap that ate this time, we have this dialogue that we -- the western islamists hold for a long period of time.

had some justification for the presence of the previous oppressive regimes, and the fearmongering that was caused against the islamic parties. we hope this dialogue will result in pact kl things, and in fact other situations with libya, unfortunately said gadhafi that the -- the threats that they gave, to warn people as a way to get reform. so the -- libya's similar to syria's uprising because libya was forced to take up arms and they were also forced to leave the places of residence, and

many of them immigrated out of the country, so lots of situations took place in libya and many people were forced to fight for gadhafi and his brigades. so this really affected eed a h of the libyan society and also the -- libyan society. also the difference of the libyan revolution, libya for 40 years, we don't have an extra constitution. nor through institutions of civil societies, nor did we have the best ministry that we had was the oil ministry because it is the main supporter for the regime and one person managed everything.

there was no -- what we had, we didn't even have any partners, we had only the revolutionary councils. so any valuable raise his voice or otherwise it would be the representative for the -- so our situation in libya differs greatly from the situations in other countries, therefore this have left and the libyan case, a lack of experience, a list of experience and the political practices also. this had many negative things in libyan society. i would talk a little about the constitution, we haven't reached yet through the phase where we will draft the constitution, we will know that the country is being led by the provisional --

which was formed by agreement among libyans. this similarly leads the country during a provisional period of time leading to our government. as i said, because of lack of experience, even this government suffers from lack of experiences in the political field of the governors and a greater number of people had hoped that with the disappearance of gadhafi, things would automatically change and become different, but this is difficult, there were people who side that libya will become democratized in a few months. so the politicians being there in the governing council or everybody hopes for the best and the improvements for the better,

so the situation with libya is not conducive and as simple as other countries, it is complicated, there are some chaos, particularly in areas where gadhafi controlled until the last minute. but a short point about the constitution, the provisional council decided that as part of the constitution that these elections would produce the national council of 200 people representing libya and will lead the country to another provisional type period, the demand of this council will also eliminate political council to lead the country and would nominate a president and also will be headed by -- but what

distinguishes this international council is that it will assign a specific number of people to draft the constitution. the country had a monarchy that was obligated in 1959. so there was no constitution that is known in libia. so this committee that will be forced out of the national c counsel. the membership of this council will be 60 people representing all different districts of the country, perhaps you talk about the case offered, some people are fearful of the centralization that caused this country to be -- in many parts, particularly in the parts that

affect their daily lives. all the people in libya will modernize but all it caused much legislation over other regions. so there was this feeling that marginalization will appear again, therefore, the demands for federalism. provisional council response was that there are a competent company that would be equally representing all the different regions of the country. so this is an option. those who are elected will have the right to approve this option or not, because it is recognized by the body. so this committee in fact will

be the committee that will draft the constitution, which will be subjected to a referendum. we as brotherhood, as my brothers have stated before me, is that the constitution must be drafted in some sort of consensus of acceptance by all libyans. we don't want in the next phrase that any group be dominant, be it one of the political parties, or even dominate in governing the country. we as a society have suffered great marginalization. libya has lost much in this revolution. as i said, we lack political experiences. so the people are fearful that one dominant party will control everything. this is not an easy process toc. and that is due to inexperience

in the political field. people were not allowed to practice politics, all except in the position i in my lifetime never submitted a ballot. i lived in britain, and i participated twice from britain. but in libya, i never participated at all except in the elections for the western brotherhood. the libyan people should have awareness and be able to build a state that they aspire for. >> an overview of the constitutional process, and where your specific party movement is trying to contribute. i'll try to ask some fairly specific questions and i'd ask, if we can, to keep the answers very specific as well. my first question actually has to do with tunis, and the relationship between the islamic

legal tradition in sharia on one hand and tunis on the other. if i understand the position of the nafta. you don't need that in the tunisian constitution. so my question for you as a member, right now, of the assembly -- the assembly, as i understand it, is responsible not simply for writing the constitution, it is set up as a parliament. as you as a member of nafta, or when your party thinks about the kinds of legislation that it would like to introduce, to what extent and in what ways do you draw on sharia sources? how do you conceive of the relationship not between the sharia and the constitution, but the sharia and ordinary legislation when you get down to the business of making ordinary laws?

>> translator: we have effective participation, very strong participation for all segments of the tunisian population. this is the role of the civil societies. and the movement is trying to build all the decisions on the basis of what they believe are in the best interests of the tunisian people. anything that the tunisian society deems to be the way that represents the biggest islamic nature of the tunisian people, and that would not allow anybody in tunisia to subject to any questioning or any test. but the first open session for the assembly, every current of

the parts represented, they will express their vision on this constitution, and the legislation in general. as you mentioned, the constitutional assembly has the authority also. so all the activities move towards dealing toward improving to open the road for investments. all those who express this statement, express the arab-islamic nature. so i don't think there will be a big problem between legislation on one hand and the identity of the tunisian people in the constitution or in legislation. naturally, in tunisia, we have an economic system that has laws to the liberal system. this will continue to be in

tunis. we can also allow an opportunity for investments, also in ways that are consistent with the islamic studies. i don't think that anyone will allow greater opportunity to attract the largest portion of investments. so all the vision that we are envisioning is to seek general public consensus. and of course, the republic of tunisia which is a centralist islamic approach. they are not very -- i mean, all societies are extremists. of course, we have extremism on the right and on the left. we have very strange extremism.

even on the left, we respect both. the respect of law, the vision for the tunisian people is to live in centrist vision of islam. that is prevalent all over the region. so we're not fearful. in the country, we believe that the future, there are lots of points that are present in the islamic study. we feel they'll be positive in adopting legislations. not only in drafting the constitution. these islamic values must prove in building a democratic state, to be respectful of all segments of the people. >> you do have an existing article 2 in the constitution

which exists in the constitution and declaration. if i understand, the existing article is just fine, you do not need to say specific rulings or provisions. so my question is this. there's still reference to the principles of the islamic sharia. who does the justice party think is authorized to give interpretations of the sharia in egypt? is this a job for the parliament, for the constitutional court? who is the one who should be making this determination about what the sharia is that the law should be based on? >> thank you very much for these questions. actually, it gives us an opportunity not just to basically talk about overarching principles, but that people get a clear understanding of a term that is commonly misunderstood and misrepresented.

to give the explanation in the previous session about the concepts and what does it mean, et cetera, and now we're talking about specifics in the constitution. so article 2 in the constitution, and basically having sharia as a primary source of -- the primary source of full legislation, initially is an identity clause, or identity statement. so like identifying in many different countries, i identify an official language. again, there is an issue of identity here that basically there's a movement also that relates to. a good thing about that is, in egypt there's a consensus along this identity statement. and from the secular from the christians and egyptians, almost all e