Committee gets to work amending constitution

Starting Sunday the abandoned Shura Council building will house meetings by the committee of experts formed to amend the constitution, amid a tumultuous political and security environment, Al-Ahram has reported.

Interim President Adly Mansour ordered the formation of a committee of experts on Saturday to suggest amendments for Egypt's 2012 Constitution, as per Article 28 of the latest Constitutional Declaration.

The committee, which is slated to finalize the amendments in 30 days, comprises six judges and four constitutional law professors.    

On 8 July, Mansour issued a 33-article declaration, designed to provide a basic constitutional backbone until a committee reviews the 2012 Constitution, makes amendments, and puts the amended document to referendum.

Article 29 of the Constitutional Declaration stipulates that the 10-person committee will present their amendments to a broader committee of 50 people representing Egyptian society’s different factions, including the various political parties, workers and farmers, syndicate members, national councils, and representatives from Al-Azhar, the Church, the Armed Forces, and the police.

This committee will approve the amendments in two months, after which it will present them to the president, who will in turn put them up for referendum within a maximum of 30 days. 

Some observers have criticized the constitutional stipulation that concerns the two committees, saying that amendments should first go through a larger group of political representatives and be fine-tuned later by judicial figures, rather than the other way around.

If all goes according to schedule, Egypt is slated to hit the polls to ratify a new constitution in November.

Mansour is also bound by the Constitutional Declaration to call for parliamentary elections two and half months after the new constitution is ratified.

A week after the first parliamentary session, Mansour is expected to call for presidential elections.   

According to Al-Ahram, the six judges include Mohamed Eid Mahgoub, secretary general of the Supreme Judicial Council, Hassan al-Sayed Bassiouny, head of the Cairo Appeals Court, Mohamed Khairy Taha and Mohamed Abdel Aziz al-Shenawy, deputy heads of the Supreme Constitutional Court, and Essam Eddin Abdel Aziz and Magdy al-Agaty, representatives for the State Council.

The four professors include Fathy Fekry, a constitutional law professor at Cairo University, Hamdy Ali, dean of the Zagazig law school, Salah Eddin Fawzy, constitutional law professor at Mansoura University, and Ali Abdel Aal, constitutional law professor at Ain Shams University.

Meanwhile, Hazem Beblawi’s Cabinet is scheduled to hold its first meeting Tuesday.

Beblawi called for reconciliation on state television on Saturday, saying the current state of “division” in Egypt cannot continue.   

The Muslim Brotherhood had slammed the Constitutional Declaration and the formation of a committee to amend the constitution. Essam al-Erian, vice president of the Freedom and Justice Party, the Brotherhood's political arm, said in a press statement that ”the constitutional declaration usurps the legislative authority from the Shura Council elected by the people.”

The declaration was also criticized by Tamarod, the campaign that first called for the mass protests against former President Mohamed Morsi on 30 June, saying “it was issued in the dark of night,” and calling it a setback for the revolution, giving the interim president the same Pharaonic powers and authorities as Morsi, who was ousted by the revolution.

Meanwhile, the Shura Council, which was disbanded as part of the Armed Forces’ roadmap announced on 3 July, still convenes at Rabaa al-Adaweya Mosque where supporters of Morsi are holding a sit-in to demand his reinstatement.