by Shaimaa Behery
CAIRO, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- Egypt's National Salvation Front's ( NSF) recently refused President Mohamed Morsi's invitation to a national dialogue, adding to the perplexity of political situation.
The presidency issued a statement Sunday, saying that the president invites 11 parties for Monday's dialogue, including al- Dostour Party headed by NSF leader Mohamed Elbaradei, the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, al-Wafd Party, and Strong Egypt Party.
"We refuse the president's call for dialogue as it ignored the Front's main demands that were announced before," said the NSF at a press conference.
Tarek Senouty, political analyst and head of Ahram newspaper's political department, said that "Refusing the dialogue isn't a proper decision, especially at this critical time, as the state is really suffering from dissents, clashes and violence."
"Right now, dialogue is urgently needed. Everything the Front demands can be offered and discussed on the table. And if they find no response from the presidency, they can tell the public," Senouty added.
Noha Bakr, political science professor with the American University in Cairo, saw that the NSF's refusal was "justified" since President Morsi didn't even mention in his last speech that the opposition's demands are "negotiable," or that they will be discussed in the dialogue.
"The president's invitation came too late, and I believe that the current situation in Egypt needs different solutions," Bakr added.
The NSF has listed some conditions to have dialogue with the president, including that the president should confess his responsibility about all the blood shed over the past days. In addition, they demanded form a national salvation government and a legal committee to reform the constitution that was approved through a referendum last December.
Ebrahem al-Nggar, political analyst with al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, saw this condition as "foregone conclusion," since the president is already responsible for everything that happened in the state, without any need to confess.
Senouty supported the demand of forming a national salvation government, as the current Cabinet of Prime Minister Hesham Qandil "doesn't meet the Egyptians' aspirations." The political analyst, however, refuted the idea of forming a legal committee to modify the constitution.
"The constitution was already approved last December... The opposition can change what they want in the constitution through the parliament," Senouty said, urging the NSF to focus on preparation for the parliamentary elections.
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