Update: Mansour decrees presidential elections should commence within 30-90 days

Interim President Adly Mansour issued a decree on Thursday stipulating that the High Elections Commission should commence procedures towards presidential elections within 30 to 90 days of constitutional ratification, in accordance with Articles 228 and 230 of the constitution.

A judicial source had said earlier on Thursday that presidential elections would not take place before the last week of April, and that the second half of February would be the last chance for Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to resign from his current position as defense minister and declare his candidacy, privately owned Al-Masry Al-Youm reported.

This follows an earlier statement by the interim president, who announced that the presidential elections would be held before the parliamentary vote, calling on the High Elections Commission to open its doors for nominations.

“I have decided to amend the roadmap to hold presidential elections first, followed by the parliamentary elections, and I call on the HEC to open its doors for candidacy according to Article 230 of the amended constitution,” Mansour said.

The interim president said he had been engaging in dialogue with national powers and representatives of the different political currents, and that the majority agreed that presidential elections should be held as the roadmap’s next step after ratifying the constitution.

Mansour said that he would make legislative amendments to laws pertaining to political participation and presidential elections in the coming days in accordance with the constitution. 

In his address, Mansour also called on the prosecutor general to review the cases of those detained, in particular university students, and to release whomever is not proven to have committed any crimes.  

He said that during this time the country is facing “black terrorism,” and called on the head of the Cairo Appeals Court to increase the judicial circuits that handle the prosecution of perpetrators.

Article 230 in the constitution was initially held in contention by members of the 50-member committee amending it, as it stipulated that parliamentary elections would be held first. After amendments, the article passed with 44 votes, and stated that both parliamentary and presidential elections must be held within 30 to 90 days after the constitution is ratified, but not specifying which would come first.