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Why did secular parties and Christian representatives boycott Egypt’s Constituent Assembly in 2012?

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Founder of the Muslim Brotherood — Muslim Brotherhood Hassan al-Banna, a schoolteacher in Ismailia, Egypt, founded the Muslim Brotherhood in 1928 as an attempt to modernize Islamic society.

Secular parties and Christian representatives boycotted Egypt’s 2012 Constituent Assembly primarily because they were relegated to the margins of the drafting process. Following the parliamentary elections, Islamist parties—specifically the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party and the ultraconservative Nūr Party—secured a dominant majority in the legislature, which allowed them to appoint Islamists to the majority of seats in the assembly.123

Opposition members feared that this Islamist dominance would result in a constitution that ignored the concerns of non-Islamists regarding human rights and the role of religion in the state. These tensions led to a deadlock, prompting secular, liberal, and Christian members to stage walkouts and file lawsuits challenging the assembly's legality. Ultimately, the Islamist majority proceeded to pass a draft constitution without the input of these boycotting factions.231