CAIRO: Nobel laureate Mohamed ElBaradei, who recently dropped out of Egypt's presidential race in protest of the ruling military council's performance, outlined Thursday a transition plan to hand over power to civilian rule. On his Twitter account, he said the “way forward after a year of erratic transition” starts with the parliament electing an interim president. This should be followed by a constituent assembly to draft a new constitution that defines a political system guaranteeing the civil nature of the state and protecting the inviolability of rights and freedoms. The president can then be elected under the new constitution, followed by a new parliament, ElBaradei said. It is time for parliament to implement the revolution's goals, he added, such as laws that guarantee the independence of the judiciary and media, and an end to military trials of civilians as well as the emergency law. He also said that it is “skewed logic” to waste time and effort electing an upper house of parliament, the Shoura Council, as it will most likely be abolished in the new constitution. In addition, he described electing a constituent assembly after the Shoura Council with little time left to draft the constitution before the presidential elections as “flawed priorities.” Under the current timeline set by the military council, Shoura Council elections are to start Sunday and it is due to hold its first session on Feb. 28. After this, a constituent assembly to draft the constitution will be elected, followed by presidential elections, all supposedly before June 30. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces recently shortened the transition timeline after mass protests demanding civilian rule, and has promised to hand over power by the end of June.
