Muslim Brotherhood seeks party status (VIDEO)

The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest opposition group which was banned under Hosni Mubarak, says it will register as a legitimate political party once party restrictions are lifted.

The Egyptian military on Tuesday ordered a special committee studying changes to the nation's Constitution to come up with amendments within 10 days that would allow the formation of new political parties.

The Muslim Brotherhood immediately announced it would do so, although it would not field a candidate in the next presidential election. 

The military took power in Egypt on Friday and immediately suspended the constitution, raising hopes that there would be major changes in election laws, as well as a softening of the almost unlimited powers of the presidency, and an end of the provision saying Islam is the national religion. The country's Coptic Christian minority often complains of discrimination.

"The Muslim Brotherhood group believes in the freedom of the formation of political parties. They are eager to have a political party," spokesperson Mohammed Mursi said in a statement on the brotherhood's website.

The brotherhood, an Islamist group banned since 1954, fielded candidates as independents in the 2005 election, winning 20 percent of seats in the Egyptian parliament. But it was marginalized in the most recent election in November and December, plagued by fraud, allegedly by Mubarak's National Democratic Party.

The Muslim Brotherhood "envisions the establishment of a democratic, civil state that draws on universal measures of freedom and justice, with central Islamic values serving all Egyptians regardless of color, creed, political trend or religion," the statement said.

A former lawmaker of the brotherhood has also been included in an eight-member panel formed by the Egyptian military to study and suggest amendments to the Mubarak-era constitution.

A retired judge, Tareq el-Bishri, will head the panel, which is tasked with amending the constitution to allow for democratic elections later this year.

Pro-democracy activists who met with the council Sunday said it promised them the constitutional amendments would be drafted in 10 days and put to the public in a national referendum within two months, according to reports. 

A new constitution is one of the key demands of Egypt's opposition, which forced authoritarian president Hosni Mubarak to step down last week after 30 years in office and transfer authority to the military.