CAIRO - Some of the demands of Egypt's historic revolution have already been met, while all Egyptians are now eagerly waiting for the constitutional amendments that will define Egypt's future in the aftermath of the downfall of Mubarak's regime. The amendments, made by a constitutional committee formed by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), will be announced within days and we will then see to what extent the revolution has achieved its targets. This comes after Egypt's military rulers dissolved Parliament, including the Shura Council (Upper House) and the People's Assembly (Lower House), and suspended the Constitution, following the overthrow of Mubarak. Bur many experts and political professors are worried that presidential or parliamentary elections could be held, with no-one being sure what effect the amendments will have, while the armed forces are running everything. "There is no clear map for the constitutional amendments to be announced by the armed forces or their Supreme Council. In any case, real constitutional amendments should only be carried out via the ballot box," says professor of Constitutional Law Mohamed Nour. "If the people do approve such amendments, presidential elections should be held first, followed by parliamentary elections after the name of the new President has been announced.” Egypt is suffering from a deep political vacuum, because a well-organised revolution has changed everything in Egypt, virtually overnight. The downfall of Mubarak's regime, that lasted 30 years, and that of the Interior Ministry, accompanied by the dissolution of Parliament by the SCAF, in order to ease the tension, has all been very sudden. We now need new presidential and parliamentary elections to form a new government chosen by Egyptians, who will vote in transparent elections for people who will work to improve their homeland. "According to the constitutional logic, the Shura Council and People's Assembly elections should be held first, as the presidential elections have to be held in a legislative environment," professor of Constitutional Law Ramadan Batikh told the daily newspaper Al-Akhbar. "If the presidential elections are held first, there will be a problem because the President should make the constitutional oath before the People's Assembly," he added. But Ibrahim Darwish, a professor of Constitutional Law at Cairo University, disagrees. “The status quo in Egypt is unsuitable for presidential or parliamentary elections. What we need is a limited transitional period to draw up a new constitution,” he told the same paper.
