Tuesday’s papers are filled with reactions to the ruling military council’s revelation that it has passed a presidential elections law.
The law reads: “The military denies the People’s Assembly the right to issue the presidential elections law by promulgating it retroactively.”
Privately owned Al-Shorouk leads with reactions to the declaration. The paper says that the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces surprised members of Parliament by declaring the new law in the Egyptian Gazette, which publishes new legislation, dated 19 January. The issuance was made public yesterday almost one week after the inauguration of the new People’s Assembly.
The independent daily goes on to say that the generals took earlier remarks from the Supreme Constitutional Court into consideration when writing the law. The bill fails to provide enough safeguards to prevent vote-rigging, Al-Shorouk adds.
Mahmoud al-Khodairy, an MP who ran for a professional seat with the Democratic Alliance and former vice president of Egypt’s Court of Cassation, decried the move.
“There was no rush to issue it only [four] days before the People’s Assembly convened and began practicing its legislative functions,” Khodairy said.
Essam Soltan, a lawmaker representing the Wasat Party, is quoted as saying that this move will widen the gap between SCAF and the people.
State-owned Al-Ahram quotes Mamdouh Shahin, SCAF general and assistant defense minister for legal affairs, as saying that the military rushed to issue this law before the People’s Assembly convened in order to “conclude the colossal administrative procedures of the presidential elections.” The paper quotes the president of Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court — who, according to the newly issued law, will head the commission in charge of monitoring the presidential vote — as saying that his commission will start preparing for the poll next week.
Strangely enough, the Freedom and Justice Party’s official paper does not mention the incident. On the contrary, the paper says on its front page that FJP lawmakers will put forward a draft bill for the presidential elections this week. The paper adds that the party will also discuss in Parliament a draft bill laying out the rules and procedures for the 100-member constituent assembly that will draft the new constitution. The bill will specify the quota for each political and social group so as to ensure to ensure “fair and balanced representation.”
Meanwhile, Freedom and Justice quotes parliamentary sources as saying the FJP has met with representatives from several political parties to reach an agreement on the division of parliamentary committees.
The FJP will preside over nine out of the People’s Assembly’s 19 committees: health, budget and planning, foreign affairs, youth, religion, manpower, housing, local administration, and defense and national security portfolios. The Salafi-led Nour Party, which has the second-most seats in the assembly, will lead three committees: education, agriculture, and suggestions and complaints.
The Wafd Party will head the transportation and industry committees. The Hadara Party, which ran with the Democratic Alliance, will head the media, culture and tourism committee. Economist Ziyad Bahaa Eddin from the Egyptian Social Democratic Party will head the economic committee, and the legislative and constitutional committee will go to Khodairy, according to the party daily.
The SCAF Advisory Council is discussing proposals to shorten the transitional period, reports state-owned Al-Akhbar. Some council members have proposed that the presidential poll be conducted in May rather than June.
Al-Tahrir, an independent daily, says that this proposal constitutes a sharp break from the council’s earlier positions. Three days ago, the consultative body had opposed calls for the military to hand power over before 30 June, which SCAF head Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi had previously set as the very final date for the military to remain in control.
Council spokesperson Mohamed al-Kholy attributes this change of heart to pressures exerted by revolutionaries on the street, according to Al-Tahrir. He goes on to say that the council seeks to reduce the generals’ remaining time in power by putting forward the rules and procedures for the constituent assembly that will draft the constitution, instead of waiting until the Parliament drafts them.
Kholy is quoted in Al-Akhbar as saying that Lawyers Syndicate head Sameh Ashour — also an Advisory Council member — had already proposed that only half of the constituent assembly’s members come from Parliament, with the rest of the members elected from outside the legislative body.
It remains to be seen if the Islamist parliamentary majority will accept any interference with their right to determine the makeup of the constituent assembly. Earlier, liberal forces had called on SCAF to issue another binding constitutional declaration with a set of rules ensuring the representation of all political and social groups in the assembly.
Islamists voiced vehement opposition to this proposition and even took to the streets, insisting that the March constitutional declaration, which said Parliament would have the exclusive right to determine the assembly's composition, should be respected. Now that Islamists hold nearly 65 percent of the People’s Assembly’s seats, many fear that the constitution’s architects will solely come from the Islamist camp.
Prominent columnist Ibrahim Eissa dedicates his column in Al-Tahrir to unpacking this dilemma. He accuses the SCAF of sowing the seeds for a religious state in Egypt. “[The SCAF] committed the biggest crime against the country when it allowed the establishment of religious parties, which were honest enough to declare their pursuit of turning Egypt into a religious state,” he writes.
Eissa rules out completely the possibility of the generals issuing a constitutional declaration to ensure that the constituent assembly will not be purely made up of Islamists. Liberal forces should not bet on the generals to secure the non-religious nature of the state, he argues.
If the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafis insist on setting their rules for the constituent assembly without consulting with other forces, non-Islamist MPs should all resign from the People’s Assembly, Eissa says, contending that their withdrawal will “expose this farce.”
Egypt's papers:
Al-Ahram: Daily, state-run, largest distribution in Egypt
Al-Akhbar: Daily, state-run, second to Al-Ahram in institutional size
Al-Gomhurriya: Daily, state-run
Rose al-Youssef: Daily, state-run
Al-Dostour: Daily, privately owned
Al-Shorouk: Daily, privately owned
Al-Wafd: Daily, published by the liberal Wafd Party
Youm7: Daily, privately owned
Al-Tahrir: Daily, privately owned
Freedom and Justice: Daily, published by the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party
Sawt al-Umma: Weekly, privately owned
Al-Arabi: Weekly, published by the Nasserist Party
Al-Nour: Official paper of the Salafi Nour Party
