Ahead of elections eyes are increasingly turned to the performance of the Supreme Constitutional Court, reports Mohamed Abdel-Baky With parliamentary elections less than eight months away and presidential elections scheduled to be held in September 2011, the Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC) is increasingly the focus of commentators' attention, with many predicting it will become a battle ground between the opposition and regime. During a recent workshop held by the Cairo based NGO, the Arab Centre for the Independence of the Judiciary and Legal Profession, legal experts, judges and lawyers called on the Egyptian government to "stop interfering in SCC affairs and cease attempts to undermine the court from performing its duties in protecting the human rights and democratic principles granted by the Egyptian constitution". Essam El-Eslamboli, a lawyer specialising in SCC affairs, believes "systemic inference by the Egyptian government in the court's business since 1996 has led to a dramatic failure in the court's ability to exercise judicial control in respect of the constitutionality of the law." Under the Egyptian constitution, the SCC must decide on the constitutionality of laws and of executive orders that have the power of the law. It is also mandated to interpret legislative texts. In addition, the SCC settles competence disputes between the judicial and administrative courts. The chairman of the SCC also assumes the presidency temporarily in case the office is vacant and parliament dissolved. Amr El-Shobaki, political analyst at Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, predicts that the SCC will face lots of pressure over the upcoming elections, especially the presidential poll. According to the most recent amendments to Article 76 of the constitution the chairman of the SCC also heads the Supreme Presidential Election Commission (SPEC), which decides on the eligibility of candidates, supervises the voting process and announces the final results. "It is time for the SCC to give up any responsibilities related to the election process and concentrate instead on its main duty, which is to determine the constitutionality of the laws organising the elections," argues El-Eslamboli. The constitutional amendments approved in 2007, he says, have confused the role of the SCC and hampered its ability to protect constitutional legitimacy. "How can the SCC's chairman, who is appointed by the president, be the same person who chairs the committee that organises presidential elections? How can he be expected to determine whether the election is constitutional or unconstitutional?" El-Shobaki points out that "Article 76 is four pages long rather than the usual three paragraphs and contradicts other articles". Throughout its history the SCC has acted to legitimise elections. It is, says El-Shobaki, a tradition that is unlikely to survive. Between 1984 and 2000 the SCC thrice declared parliamentary elections unconstitutional, openly challenging the executive authority and the National Democratic Party. It judged the 1984 parliament unconstitutional because the slate system used in elections at the time discriminated against independents. After the nomination system was changed to allow independents to run in the 1987 election the court ruled the new procedures in contradiction with basic rights granted by the constitution. Following the 2000 election the SCC announced the results void because unconstitutional auxiliary polling stations had been placed under the supervision of civil employees, rather than the judicial supervision then required under Article 88. That article, too, was amended in 2007. Alieddin Hilal, chair of the NDP's Media Committee, responded to critics by saying that, "any problems found in the constitution in any country are an expression of political and social realities." "Egyptian society has failed until now to solve issues of gender equality. Muslim and Coptic problems and the relationship between religion and the state cannot be solved solely by presidential decrees. We cannot deny that there are big problems revolving around our beliefs. We urgently need to find ways to increase Coptic participation in political life." Judges and experts attending the workshop also cited technical problems as hampering the performance of the SCC, including the limited number of judges assigned to SCC cases. Only 22 judges are working on tens of cases, resulting in extensive delays in rulings being issued. Mohamed El-Asser, a professor of constitutional law at Cairo University, noted the absence of any mechanism to ensure that parliament actually changes laws that the SCC has ruled unconstitutional.
