From 2011 to 2012 every day brought a new development to Egypt’s transition, new statements, positions, laws, arrangements, and protests. The Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists understood that it would be in their interest for there to be an election as soon as possible. Their popularity was strong, as was their capacity to organize an electoral campaign, while their competitors had very little appeal. On the other hand, the Brotherhood expressed concern that if they were to dominate politics too soon, the international community and other forces would move to undermine them. It was for this reason that, at first, the Brotherhood sought to allay any concerns by announcing that its newly founded Freedom and Justice Party would only contest half the seats in parliament and would not contest the presidential elections. However, closer to the time, the Party reversed itself and with its other Islamist allies won close to 80 percent of the seats in parliament and won the presidency as well. The Islamists nevertheless continued to seek to reassure the international community that it would not seek to dominate politics through a number of means, including the constitutional process. After the Assembly’s second iteration was finally established, a senior member of the judiciary was elected president and a well-known liberal politician was appointed rapporteur. Interventions at the Assembly’s opening session called for consensus between all members. Just as importantly, leading members of the Brotherhood were messaging to the international community in private meetings that they were striving to achieve the support of at least 80 percent of the population. “If we cannot achieve eighty per cent at first, we will keep working and will not complete the process until that is achieved,” a leading member said. “This isn’t an election, it’s a constitution. It has to be acceptable to everyone.”