Jerry Lewis doppelgänger Amr Moussa... who was head of the Arab League for approximately two normal lifespans, accomplishing nothing that was obvious to the casual observer ...
, a former presidential candidate and past secretary-general of the Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
, was elected committee chairman with 30 votes. His rival, lawyers syndicate chairman Sameh Ashour, got 16 votes. Two votes were considered invalid.
According to Mohamed Salmawy, the committee member in charge of counting the votes, 48 members out of a total 50 attended the session. Absent were El-Sayed Mohamedein, chairman of Suez Canal University, and Bassam Al-Zarqa, deputy chairman of the ultraconservative Islamist Salafist Nour party. Mohamedein is currently outside Egypt, whereas Al-Zarqa is expected to attend tomorrow's session following a last-minute Nour party vote in favor of participating in the committee.
Moussa promised to do his best "to help Egypt draft a constitution that reflects the ideals of the two revolutions of January 2011 and June 2013."
Moussa's three deputies, who were also elected Sunday, also represent a liberal to moderate perspective. They include world-renowned heart surgeon Magdi Yacoub, human rights
...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless...
activist Mona Zulficar, and Islamist thinker Kamal El-Helbawy.
Speaking to parliamentary correspondents on Saturday, El-Helbawy, who describes himself as a liberal Islamic thinker who rebelled against the Moslem Brüderbund's ideology, stated that he is "against mixing religion with politics."
"My message to Islamists -- after one year of rule by a very bad regime -- is to keep away from politics in order to allow this country to move forward," El-Helbawy added.
Meanwhile,
...back at the alley, Slats Chumbaloni was staring into a hole that was just .45 inch in diameter and was less than three feet from his face ...
Gaber Nassar, president of Cairo University and a high-profile constitutional law professor, was elected as the committee's rapporteur. Like Moussa, Nassar boycotted the Islamist-dominated constituent assembly which drafted Egypt's 2012 constitution under former president Mohamed Morsi.
Mohamed Salmawy, a liberal dramatist and chairman of the Union of Egyptian Writers, was elected as the committee's media spokesperson.
The committee's procedural meeting was headed by Abdel-Gelil Mostafa, the liberal-oriented chairman of the National Association of Change.