The Presidential Elections Commission (PEC) — the five-member judicial body entrusted with supervising the presidential polls — held two procedural meetings on Monday and Tuesday. Meanwhile, interim President Adli Mansour invited heads of political parties to an urgent meeting on Wednesday in a bid to reach consensus over the law regulating the process, several articles of which have provoked furious reactions from political forces. If everything runs smoothly the PEC will open the door to candidate registrations next week — 19 or 20 March or thought likely. The election could then be held by the third week of May. Field Marshal Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi, currently army chief and minister of defence, will have to resign his posts and register his name on voter lists in order to be eligible to stand. Sources say Al-Sisi is expected to attend his last cabinet meeting on Thursday after which he will resign. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) — the 20-member body responsible for supervising the Egyptian army — will then meet to appoint a new minister of defence. Sedki Sobhi, SCAF's deputy chairman and chief of military staff, is slated to succeed Al-Sisi. On Sunday Al-Sisi launched an initiative to build one million low-cost housing units, in cooperation with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) real estate company Arabtec, a move many see as the opening of his election campaign. The initiative sent the message that Al-Sisi enjoys the support of the oil-rich UAE. Al-Sisi went to the UAE on Tuesday to attend the closure of joint military exercises and to “consolidate bilateral cooperation”. On 5 and 7 March a similar signal was sent by Saudi Arabia which displayed its solidarity with Egypt's interim administration by designating the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organisation and withdrawing, alongside the UAE and Bahrain, its ambassador from Qatar. The UAE and Saudi Arabia are widely believed to be footing the $2 billion cost of last month's arms deal between Egypt and Russia. Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Saud Al-Faisal told journalists in Cairo on Sunday that “Saudi Arabia stands firm with Egypt in fighting terrorism and recovering stability.” The PEC began meeting this week after the long-awaited law aimed at regulating presidential polls was officially issued by interim President Mansour on 8 March. No sooner had Mansour's legal advisor Ali Awad announced the details of the 60-article law than it provoked furious reactions from revolutionary movements. They said the law's rejection of any judicial appeal of PEC decisions represented a “setback” for the political roadmap adopted following massive protests against Mohamed Morsi on 30 June 2013. Hamdeen Sabahi, widely expected to stand against Al-Sisi, said the banning of appeals might lead him to rethink his presidential bid. The prospect could turn the poll into a repeat of the yes-or-no referendums that passed for presidential elections under Egypt's three previous military presidents. Sabahi came a respectable third in the 2012 presidential election winning 4.8 million votes. Hussein Abdel-Ghani, Sabahi's media advisor, told Al-Ahram Weekly that after consulting with his leftist and revolutionary partners Sabahi still believes he must join the race. “We will ask the PEC for greater transparency and guarantees of impartiality,” said Abdel-Ghani. “Neither the army, nor any other state institution, can be used to serve Al-Sisi's election campaign. If this stipulation is ignored the election process and the reputation and credibility of Al-Sisi will be tarnished.” Mansour's rejection of appeals in presidential elections, says Awad, follows the advice given by the General Assembly of the Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC) and was approved by Ibrahim Mehleb's cabinet last Thursday. “SCC judges wrote to Mansour saying the ban on appeals in presidential polls was in line with the new constitution which left the PEC's make-up and prerogatives intact,” said Awad. “The judges wrote that while article 97 of the new constitution makes administrative orders subject to appeals the commission's decisions are in effect judicial orders that cannot be scrutinised by lower courts.” Awad argued that a majority of political factions and judges agreed that appeals could delay the presidential election process, cast doubt on the legitimacy of the next president and thus impact national security. He stressed that article 15 of the new law still gives hopeful candidates the right to file complaints with PEC should it reject their presidential bids. Article 15 obliges the PEC to inform candidates whose candidacy has been disallowed of the reasons for their rejection, and allows disqualified candidates two days to file their objections to the decision. The commission then has two more days to issue a final decision. Awad also indicated that “candidates will also be allowed to file appeals against the presidential election law before the SCC which under the new constitution is authorised to exercise a post-scrutiny of laws.” Awad rejects claims saying that the law was delayed to serve Al-Sisi's election agenda. “The law faced delays because President Mansour, who is also the SCC's chairman, was keen to listen to all judicial authorities and political forces,” he said. Tahani Al-Gibali, a former SCC judge appointed under Hosni Mubarak, told Al-Ahram Weekly that “ruling out appeals is a positive step”. She explained that “allowing appeals against the PEC's decisions before lower courts could push the country into instability at a time when politicians should focus on upholding the national interest.” Sabahi told a press conference on Monday that “rejecting appeals violates the new constitution”. “We revolted against Morsi because he wanted to make his decrees immune to judicial scrutiny. It is a scenario we cannot afford to repeat after the 30 June Revolution.” Hossam Mounis, media spokesman of Sabahi's Popular Current, warned that “the presidential election law returns Egypt to the Mubarak era when laws were tailored to suit the regime”. “In this case,” he said, “the law is being tailored to serve Al-Sisi.” Al-Gabali argues that “while Morsi's decree was aimed to reinforce his tyrannical regime PEC orders are not completely immune to appeals and aim to secure the election process rather than serve any authoritarian instincts.” For candidates to be eligible to run in the upcoming presidential elections, says Awad, they must meet eight conditions. Article 1 requires candidates be born to Egyptians parents. Neither the candidate's parents nor his or her spouse can hold dual nationality. The candidate must be a university graduate; be in full exercise of their civil and political rights; cannot have been convicted of any criminal or ethical charges; must have completed military service or been legally exempted from it; must be at least 40 years old and have undergone a medical check-up by the Health Ministry's affiliated Specialised Medical Council to certify that be free from any physical or mental illness. The new law does not stipulate that candidates currently facing trial or in custody pending trial will be stripped of exercising their political rights. Al-Ahram political analyst Amr Al-Chobaki told the Weekly that the provision candidates must hold a university degree is a discriminatory article that has no basis in the new constitution. Article 2 of the new law stipulates that candidates must gain the endorsement of at least 20 elected MPs or a total of 25,000 citizens from at least 15 governorates with a minimum of 1,000 from each of the 15. The new law raises the ceiling for campaign spending from LE10 million to LE20 million in the first round, and LE5 million should a run-off be held. The rise in spending ceilings, says Al-Chobaki, reflects realities on the ground. “In a country whose population has reached 90 million a ceiling of LE10 million was unrealistic. What is good is that the election law allows the Central Auditing Agency to scrutinise all campaign spending.” Article 23 of the new law requires all campaign donations to be deposited in a public sector bank account. Candidates are required to submit detailed accounts of their campaign spending within 15 days of the date of the announcement of the final result of the polls. The same article bans candidates from accepting funding from foreign institutions or individuals.
