Egypt's new constitution to be finalised within ten days

The drafting committee is expected to vote on Egypt's new constitution within the next ten days

The new draft of Egypt's constitution could be ready in as little as a week or ten days, the spokesman for the drafting committee said on Thursday.
Mohamed Salmawy said that the articles of the new draft would be subject to a final vote by members of the fifty-member committee once completed.
Once the vote is finalised -- which is expected to be at the end of this month or by early December -- the final draft constitution will be passed to interim president Adly Mansour to be put to referendum.
According to Salmawy, the committee has so far finalised the first reading of three quarters of the new constitution, which contains around 200 articles.
"We have finished the first reading of most of the chapters of the new constitution, except for the parts concerning the judicial authorities and the armed forces," he said.
The spokesman told a press conference that judicial authorities still have to settle differences first before articles regulating their performance are finally drafted, while a mini-committee is still debating articles dealing with armed forces.
Salmawy indicated that a committee entrusted with reviewing the final language of the articles of the new constitution has already finalised the chapters on freedoms and rights, the state, the rule of law, and the system of governance -- except for the parts dealing with judicial authorities, armed forces, independent and watchdog institutions, and a section on transitional rules.
Reviewing the committee's recent progress, Salmawy said the draft granted new powers to the president, including the right to appoint ministers for four "sovereign" portfolios: defence, interior, foreign affairs and justice.
Salmawy said the president of the republic will be also granted the right to invite citizens to a national referendum to give a vote on whether parliament must be dissolved or not.
"The president will be privileged with this right one time during his term in office," said Salmawy, adding that: "if citizens said yes, parliament would be dissolved."
The spokesman indicated that the president and one fifth of members of parliament will be allowed to request an amendment of one or more than one of the articles of the constitution.
"If submitted by the president, the request would be discussed by parliament within 30 days and if two thirds of members rejected it, the president would not be allowed to submit it again during the same parliamentary session," he said, adding that: "the president will not be allowed to request the amendment of any of the constitution's articles regulating freedoms unless this request guarantees that it will grant more freedoms to the people."
Within the same context, Salmawy indicated that the president, the prosecutor-general, or a group comprising 20 percent of MPs, would be able to direct accusations of grand treason at prime minister.
Salmawy explained that the constitution will also empower the president to appoint public figures to parliament.
"This should not be more than five percent of the total number of parliamentary members, and this right should be used to help marginalised sectors like young people, women and Copts have a stronger voice in parliament," said Salmawy.
This method will most probably be used in place of allocating a quota of seats to a certain section of society.
"Some blame us for not allocating quotas while others accuse us of turning the constitution into a national charter for certain sectors and not for all Egyptians," Salmawy said, arguing that "all I can say is that the constitution would serve both: all Egyptians, but with a focus on certain sectors."
Salmawy reviewed a number of articles which were approved by the committee in plenary sessions over the last two days. The first of these is Article 106 which gives parliament -- it has not yet been decided whether its name will be the House of Representatives or the People's Assembly -- the right to withdraw confidence from the prime minister or any of the cabinet ministers or their deputies.
"This will be possible only upon an interpellation submitted by one of the deputies or upon a request submitted by tenth of MPs, and that the majority (50 percent plus one) must vote in favour of withdrawing confidence in order for the request to be valid."
Salmawy also indicated that members have approved Article 138, which forbids MPs from being appointed in government or vice versa. Besides, Salmawy added, the approved Article 140 obliges the prime minister and all members of his government to submit financial statements about their wealth when they come to office and after they leave office.
"All presents they received while they are office, whether in cash or in kind, will be relinquished to the state treasury," the article said.
In another direction, Salmawy indicated that the 50-member committee had approved on Wednesday evening a number of articles regulating the performance of media, be it print or audio-visual media.
Salmawy said there will be a national independent council for supervising the performance of public and private media (with its different forms: visual, audio and print).
This council, Salmawy explained, will be also branched into two different institutions to supervise state-owned media: one for supervising press organisations and another one for supervising the state television and radio union.
"The constitution's article regulating state media gives governments the right to eliminate the post of minister of information or keep it in place," said Salmawy.
Article 177 of the draft states that a national independent electoral commission will be set up to supervise referendums and elections, including revising voter lists, setting the rules of campaigning and funding, and announcing results.
Salmawy said the board of the electoral commission will be formed of ten judicial members to be selected from among the senior deputies of the chairman of the Court of Cassation, of the appeal courts, the deputies of the State Council and of the administrative prosecution.
"These will be selected by the Higher Council for Justice and their term of office extends for six years, but there will be a mid-term renewal every three years," said Salmawy.
The spokesman said that the 50-member committee has also voted in favour of Article 179, which states that referendums and elections to be held over the coming ten years have to be fully under judicial monitoring and supervision.
Appeals against results of presidential and parliamentary elections and referendums will be submitted to the Supreme Administrative Court, while those on municipal elections will be submitted to administrative courts.
Salmawy indicated that articles regulating the performance of the police and interior ministry have been approved. Salmawy indicated that a higher board for policemen will be established to help minister of interior and give opinions on laws related to police authorities.
"The constitution makes it obligatory for the interior minister to seek the advice of this council and also makes it obligatory for parliament to seek the opinion of this council when laws regulating the performance of police authorities are being discussed," said Salmawy.
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