Constitutional bonanza

On Sunday President Hosni Mubarak is expected to announce a raft of constitutional amendments, reports Gamal Essam El-Din

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Fourteen months after a presidential campaign in which a sweeping package of constitutional reforms was promised, and it looks as if the government is ready to deliver; in his keynote speech before a combined session of the People's Assembly and Shura Council on Sunday President Hosni Mubarak is expected to ask Parliament to begin work on amending a large number of constitutional articles.

Following his return from an eight-day visit to Russia, China and Kazakhstan, Mubarak told the editors of national newspapers that the long-awaited constitutional amendments "aim at meeting the needs of all Egyptians rather than a specific segment of society or group trying to impose its views on others." But he warned that "the constitution cannot be changed overnight," adding that changes must be governed by principles rather than come as a response to pressure exerted by powerful groups.

On 30 October Mubarak surprised observers by announcing that he had no objection to Article 76 of the constitution being re-amended so that "parties have greater chance of running in presidential elections." Mubarak also told last September's annual conference of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) that 2007 would be "the year of constitutional reforms" based on his 2005 presidential manifesto.

Mubarak's speech on Sunday, Moufid Shehab, Minister of State for Parliamentary and Legal Affairs told Al-Ahram Weekly, is expected to include requests for articles 76 and 74 to be amended and articles 173 and 179 revoked.

"Articles 76 and 74 deal with presidential elections and prerogatives, while revoking articles 173 and 179 would abolish the offices of the Higher Judicial Council and the Socialist- Prosecutor General," said Shehab.

Mubarak told the editors of national newspapers that he was happy to dispense with many of his prerogatives "but in a way that ensures that the executive authority continues to function smoothly."

This, implied Shehab, means that a number of articles regulating the relationship between the government and the president will have to be amended.

Any requests for constitutional amendments contained in Mubarak's speech will then be formally submitted by letter to the People's Assembly. They will be discussed by the Assembly's General Committee and, if approved, put before the entire Assembly for debate. The task of reviewing the nitty-gritty of legislative amendments falls on the Assembly's Legislative and Constitutional Affairs Committee, which is expected to complete its work within two months of any changes being agreed in principle.

Shehab said he expects that the Assembly and Shura Council will hold hearings at which experts in constitutional law, the chairmen of opposition parties, newspaper editors and civil society activists will be invited to give their opinions on the proposed amendments.

"President Mubarak has said he is not against a public debate," Shehab said, adding that once approved by the Assembly any amendments will then be put to the public in a referendum, widely expected to be held in May, coinciding with mid-term Shura Council elections.

Opposition parties and political activists have greeted Mubarak's announcements with scepticism. In a joint press conference held on 7 November the chairmen of the left-wing Tagammu, the Nasserist and the liberal Wafd parties said they were ready to participate in any public debate over the constitution. But, warned Rifaat El-Said, chairman of the Tagammu, it was more than likely that the current round of changes would be a repeat of the amendment of Article 76 when "the Assembly ignored the opinions of political activists and ratified an amendment that scandalised the public and shocked the opposition."

El-Said added that the three major opposition parties agreed with President Mubarak that the time was not ripe for a complete change of the constitution. "We would strenuously oppose any attempts to change Article 88 which states that elections must be held under complete judicial supervision," he said.

The opposition, El-Said continued, was in full agreement over which articles should be repealed.

"Those articles dealing with public freedoms and rights -- articles 40 to 63 -- should be kept intact while Article 74 should be repealed rather than amended," he argued.

The opposition's strategy will be to promote core reforms, on top of which comes amending Article 77 in a way that will restrict any future president to two terms.

In a recent interview with a Russian newspaper Mubarak argued that the American system of restricting the office of president to two terms is ill-suited to both Egypt and Russia.

Talking to Egyptian journalists, Mubarak also indicated that Article 88 should be amended and the supervisory role of judges restricted to the main polling stations, saying "their task should not be to watch every single ballot box."

During the People's Assembly's opening procedural session candidates from the 88-member Muslim Brotherhood bloc failed to win any of the posts they contested, though they did embarrass veteran Parliamentary Speaker Fathi Surour, who has previously won never less than 430 votes, by reducing his support to 319.

The opening session provided a taste of things to come, with the Brotherhood suggesting that it is ready to up its confrontation with the majority NDP. Hamdi Hassan, a prominent Brotherhood MP, told the Weekly that "we do not think that the re- amendment of Article 76 will allow us to contest 2011's presidential elections." As a result, he added, the Brotherhood's strategy will be to embarrass the regime as much as possible, exposing the alleged "corruption, brutality and tyranny of the 25- year-old regime."