Parliament Speaker, Ali Abdel Aal, announced that the report of the General Committee on constitutional amendments will be discussed during a plenary session on Tuesday, and will be later referred to the constitutional and legislative committee for discussion. Abdel Aal said he reviewed the request of members to amend some articles of the Constitution of 2014, and found that some points however need clarification from the MPs. Accordingly, he will hold meetings with members representing all governorates to hear their views. He asserted that the session aims to provide the opportunity for each MP to comment on the amendments, noting that other meetings will be held on geographical basis starting with MPs of Upper Egypt. Abdel Aal has received a request by one-fifth of the parliament members in order to amend a number of articles of the existing 2014 Constitution, and referred it to the General Committee for review. The General Committee on Sunday discussed the compatibility of suggested constitutional amendments with Article 226 of the Constitution, which allows the president and a fifth of parliament members to propose an amendment to any article of the constitution. The meeting also tackled the necessity of the step in the light of Egypt's current situation and the principles of both revolutions of January 2011 and June 2013. On Saturday, more than 120 MPs have signed a petition requesting some constitutional amendments. It was submitted by Abdel-Hadi Al-Qasabi, the leader of the Support Egypt parliamentary coalition, to Abdel Aal. Almost all political parties in the parliament have signed the petition on constitutional amendments, except the leftist Tagammu and the Egyptian Socialist Democratic Party.
