The Arab country's liberal parties are uniting in an anti-Islamist alliance called the "Egyptian Bloc" in order to ensure Egypt becomes "a civil democratic state." Noah el-Hennawy explores the political implications:
Speakers at the [Egyptian Bloc founding] announcement detailed their political outlook, which envisages a civil democratic state based on equality, in contrast to Islamist groups, who are believed to still be flirting with a religious order that would limit individual liberties and discriminate against women and religious minorities. The Egyptian Bloc is expected to ask the military to issue a new constitutional declaration stipulating that the architects of the new constitution should not deviate from their proposed democratic principles. Some secularists fear that Islamists will garner a sweeping majority in the new parliament and hence monopolize the drafting of the new constitution. The parliament, which is set to be elected in November, will be entrusted with electing a 100-member constituent assembly that will write the constitution.
The Dish 