Egypt’s military rulers are likely to issue a complementary constitutional declaration to identify powers of the upcoming president days before he is elected, according to a report in Al-Shorouk newspaper.
The independent paper quoted a military source on Monday as saying that the terms of the complementary constitutional declaration hadn’t yet been set, and that constitutional and legal experts are still mulling their views on it before getting it reviewed and ratified by the military council.
News reports surfaced last month that the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces planned to issue a complementary constitutional declaration to detail the duties and powers of the incoming president, after political forces failed to reach a consensus over the formation of the assembly tasked with writing the constitution.
Last month, seven political parties met at the Wafd Party headquarters to discuss the complementary declaration. They decided to propose certain amendments to the 1971 Constitution to be included in the declaration.
In March 2011, the military council announced a constitutional declaration of 63 articles, including those that had been put to a referendum earlier that month.
Article 60, which would be amended by the new proposed declaration, stipulates that the military council call on the elected members of the People’s Assembly and the Shura Council to meet within six months of their election to elect a founding committee of 100 members to prepare a new constitution within another six months.
Egypt is set to elect a new president in the runoff vote scheduled for 16 and 17 June.
