Political update
Next Egyptian President:
The final results for the Egyptian presidential elections are finally approaching and shall be announced on Thursday 21 June 2012 as scheduled. The indicators towards a winning candidate for the time being are in favor of Dr. Mohamed Morsi, chairman of the Freedom and Justice Party, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood Group. Dr. Morsi was member of the Egyptian parliament from 2000 to 2005. He holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in engineering from Cairo University and a PHD in engineering from theĀ University of Southern California. He was an assistant professor atĀ California State University,Ā Ā and professor atĀ Zagazig University.
The hope is that the election of a president leads to more stability in all social, legislative and economic aspects of the country.
Parliament Dissolved:
The Supreme Constitutional Court has recently decided that certain provisions of the parliamentās election law were unconstitutional because they violate article 38 of the constitutional declaration. According to article 38, the election regime is in violation of the equality principle because the partiesā candidates were allowed to run in both the closed party list system and the individual system, while the independent candidates were only allowed to run in the individual system and prevented from forming lists. The Court stated in its reasoning that its decision entails the dissolution of the parliament.
Notably, the Court stated also that the dissolution of the parliament does not affect laws and regulations issued by the parliament, which remain valid and effective.
SCAF Announces a Supplementary Constitutional Declaration:
The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) has announced on Monday 18 June 2012, the issuance of the supplementary constitutional declaration (the āDeclarationā). The Declaration was issued to deal with the effect of the dissolution of the parliament by virtue of the Supreme Constitutional Courtās decision which manifested in decree no. 350 /2012.
The Declaration limits the presidential powers and grants SCAF more powers. SCAF under the Declaration assumed the legislative power including the control over the public budget until a new parliament is formed and the power to constitute a new constitutional assembly to draft a new constitution in case the current one elected by the parliament was dissolved for any reason.
It is unknown whether the Declaration will continue to remain in effect due to the political movements challenging it as illegitimate and challenges submitted to courts against it.
Constitutional Assembly Convenes:
The elected members of the constitutional assembly (the āAssemblyā) were announced, and the Assembly has convened on Tuesday 19 June 2012. The Assembly has elected the chief judge of the court of cassation as the chairman. The administrative court is currently examining whether the Assembly was validly formed or not.
Emergency Law Expired:
The parliament has not renewed the Emergency Law. Accordingly, the Emergency Law which has been in effect since 1981 has finally expired on Wednesday 25 January 2012. The Emergency Law gave law enforcement and the executive branch wide and exceptional powers over citizens. This is a welcome step towards rule of law.
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