[4] In a 31 March to 4 April opinion poll Al Ahram opinion poll, 82.3 percent of the 1200 respondents said they wanted the constituent assembly reformed, to represent all political forces, while 17.7 percent expressed contentment with the current composition.
Five seats would be filled by the Al-Azhar University, one of Sunni Islam's most important institutions, and four by the Coptic Orthodox Church.
The Constituent Assembly however has been given a second chance after the Supreme Administrative Court postponed on 26 June 2012 a decision on dissolving it to 4 September.
[13] However, as per the supplementary constitutional decree released in June 2012 by the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces,[14] the Constituent Assembly still faces difficulty.
Brown of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace noted: "Although that might sound normal and innocuous, the first assembly was disbanded on the basis of a similar argument.
"[15] A ruling on the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly by the Administrative Court in Cairo was postponed until 9 October 2012 to allow the judges to look into documents regarding the case.
[19] Mohamed Morsi's constitutional declaration issued in November 2012 bars the Constituent Assembly from being dissolved by the judiciary.
[20] A number of parties have embraced Mohamed ElBaradei's and Hamdeen Sabbahi's calls for a boycott of the Constituent Assembly.
[21] Mohamed Ghonim, the coordinator of Egyptian Popular Current and liberal Amr Hamzawi have also signed the statement calling for a boycott.
[24] The church representatives that withdrew from the Constituent Assembly included Bishop Paula of Tanta of the Coptic Orthodox Church, Bishop Yohana Qalta, who is the Assistant to the Catholic Patriarch in Egypt and Safwat al-Bayadi, who is the head of the Anglican Communion in Egypt.
[27] Mohamed Anwar El-Sadat, the leader of the Reform and Development Party, also withdrew on the same day.
[28] This was followed by former secretary of the Arab League Amr Moussa, Hamdy Kandeel, and Wahid Abdel Meguid's withdrawal.