Muslim Brotherhood deputies and their Islamist allies on the Shura Council teamed up on Monday and Tuesday to approve the wholesale amendment of a 1956 law regulating the exercise of political rights. The changes were introduced by the government after the Administrative Court last month ruled that the election law fast-tracked by the same forces on the Shura Council on 21 February was riddled with constitutional and legal holes. The law was subsequently referred back to the Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC). Sobhi Saleh, deputy chairman of the Shura Council's Legislative and Constitutional Affairs Committee and a leading official of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), says that rather than wait for the SCC to rule on a revised version of the February law the FJP had deemed it expedient to present fresh legislation and opted to accept the government's own draft legislation which is essentially an amended version of even earlier laws. The Shura Council was scheduled to hold a plenary meeting on Wednesday to discuss the draft. The meeting was postponed to Sunday after Sobhi told Shura Council Chairman Ahmed Fahmi that the council's Legislative and Constitutional Affairs Committee needed more time to complete a report on the legislation. The 69-article draft law on the exercise of political rights stated that “every Egyptian on reaching 18 years of age shall be free to vote in general elections and referendum” excepting members of the Armed Forces and police officers. The Shura Council then added “members of the Egyptian Intelligence service and the Administrative Control Authority” to the list of those excluded from suffrage in the government's original draft. Article 2 also exempts “convicted felons unless rehabilitated; convicts sentenced to imprisonment terms for theft, hiding stolen objects, swindling, issuing uncovered cheques, breach of trust, perfidy, bribery, criminal bankruptcy, forgery, using forged papers, perjury, rape and vagrancy” from voting. The same article also prevents “civil servants or public sector employees dismissed because of a breach of honour” from voting in the absence of a judicial order annulling their dismissal or until five years has passed since the dismissal. Article 3 suspends the political rights of citizens diagnosed with certain mental disorders or who have been declared bankrupt. Article 4 specifies that parliamentary elections be supervised by a Supreme Elections Committee (SEC) chaired by the head of Cairo's Court of Appeals and including the most senior deputy heads of the Court of Cassation, of the State Council and of the Courts of Appeal. Article 10 mandates the SEC with “setting up voting centres, polling and vote-counting stations; preparing and reviewing electoral lists [based on national identity cards]; and supervising the registration process”. The SEC is also in charge of allocating “electoral symbols” for party-based and independent candidates and will oversee the roe of the media and civil society organisations as they observe the poll. Among the more contentious points of the proposed law is its failure to ban religious slogans from election campaigns. Saleh defended the omission, arguing that “slogans like Islam is the Solution — raised by the Muslim Brotherhood during parliamentary elections since the 1980s — are perfectly constitutional”. Sameh Ashour, chairman of the Lawyers Syndicate and a member of the National Salvation Front, insists that the Shura Council's failure to implement a blanket ban on sectarian campaigning was “yet more proof that the law is being tailored according to Muslim Brotherhood demands and will act only to fan sectarian tensions”. Ashour predicts that if the law is referred to the SCC in its current form it will be ruled unconstitutional. Margrette Azer, a Coptic member of the Wafd Party, told Al-Ahram Weekly that the current draft betrays “the Muslim Brotherhood's long-term strategy to Islamise Egypt and discriminate among citizens on religious and sectarian lines.” The council spent slightly more time on Article 15 which was amended to place the voting of Egyptians living abroad under full judicial supervision in compliance with SCC demands. Deputy Justice Minister Omar Al-Sherif said “the amendment does not mean that the government will send judges abroad to supervise the voting of Egyptians living there.” Instead, expatriate votes will be sent by express mail to Egypt to be counted under the supervision of judges. The final text of Article 15 now states that “the procedures of election and vote-counting for Egyptians living abroad will be conducted ahead of the ballot at home and under complete judicial supervision in accordance with rules set by the SEC.” The council voted overwhelmingly against the government's proposal that voters no longer be required to dip their finger in indelible ink. Al-Sherif had argued that it was enough to mark down the number of voters' ID cards and that scrapping the ink would save LE5 million. On Tuesday, the council approved articles 30 to 69. Among the most significant is Article 37 which states that “the voting process begins at 9am and ends at 9pm over two days” but which allows judges to extend voting hours should it prove necessary to allow all citizens to exercise their rights. Article 50 states that “any citizen who abstains from voting for no acceptable reason will be subject to a fine of up to LE500.” Article 51 toughens penalties faced by voters found guilty of using force or threatening supervising judges. They can now spend up to five years in prison.
