Calls for shortening the deadline for handing over power are proving contentious, writes Mona El-Nahhas On Saturday the Initiative to Rescue the Egyptian Revolution (IRER), a movement which includes 63 political activists, intellectuals, university professors and businessmen, called for the presidential poll to be brought forward to avoid further political unrest. IRER has asked the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) to open nomination procedures on 25 January, with the names of candidates to be announced by 11 February, the anniversary of President Hosni Mubarak's removal from power. The initiative argues that delaying Shura Council elections of the drafting of the constitution until a new president is in place would be in the public interest. Meanwhile, the 6 April Youth Movement has issued a statement calling on the public to mobilise on 25 January -- the first anniversary of the revolution -- to pressure SCAF to hand over power to a civil elected authority. "The movement will give SCAF a final chance to meet the demands of the revolution, on top of which is handing over power to an elected civil president," said the statement. The 6 April Movement suggests either holding presidential polls immediately after parliamentary elections are concluded or power to be handed temporarily to the newly elected People's Assembly speaker who would then call for elections to be held within 60 days. "Any delay in handing over power is unacceptable," the statement warned. During a meeting held on Sunday the Advisory Council recommended that Shura Council polls be held in two stages ending on 22 February rather than three ending on 12 March as announced by SCAF. The Supreme Elections Committee (SEC) has adopted the same suggestion in a memorandum submitted to SCAF which on Monday signalled its approval of the revised Shura timetable. The Advisory Council, however, subsequently said the shortened Shura election timetable would not lead to earlier presidential elections but simply provide more time for drafting a new constitution, a position that led some to call for the Shura Council itself to be disbanded. Tagammu spokesman Nabil Zaki argued that given the negligible role the Shura Council has played since it was established by president Anwar El-Sadat it should now be abolished. "Its presence is symbolic, it has no real authority," says Zaki. "I think it would serve the public interest if SCAF issued a decree dissolving the Shura Council." Such a move, he added, would save millions of pounds in administrative costs. No Shura Council, though, will lead to a constitutional dilemma. The constitutional declaration now in force stipulates that presidential candidates must secure the support of 60 MPs from both the People's Assembly and the Shura Council. To overcome the problem some political forces have suggested SCAF amend the constitutional declaration to limit the stipulated support to People's Assembly members. But SCAF, says professor of constitutional law Atef El-Banna, has no legal authority to dissolve the Shura Council. According to El-Banna the legislative role of SCAF, which ends when the new parliament holds its first session on 23 January, is limited to regulating the transitional period. El-Banna also thinks handing power to the newly-elected speaker of the People's Assembly is unconstitutional. "It has no legal grounding in the constitutional declaration for which people voted last March. It just conforms to articles mentioned in the 1971 constitution which has now been superseded. In a statement issued on Sunday the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, rejected any changes to SCAF's existing timetable. Wahid Abdel-Meguid, general coordinator of the FJP-led Democratic Alliance, warned that electing a new president before drafting the constitution would lead to dictatorship. "The authorities of the president must be clearly defined in the constitution before the handover of power," argued Abdel-Meguid. During a conference held in Port Said on Friday evening presidential contender Selim El-Awwa also called for the current timetable to be retained. "Any changes to the timetable will not be in the public interest," El-Awwa said, noting that the SCAF remained keen on handing over power as scheduled. Under the existing timetable People's Assembly elections will be followed by Shura Council polls. An assembly assigned with drafting the new constitution will then be elected by members of the People's Assembly and the Shura Council. Nomination measures for the presidential poll will start in mid-April, with the new president being sworn in on 1 July.
