Conciliatory gestures

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Nabil Merham

A NEW head of the State Council has been chosen, ending a two-week crisis.

At an emergency general assembly called on Monday judge Nabil Merham was named as the chairman of the State Council, reports Mona El-Nahhas.

Out of the 272 judges working for the administrative judiciary who gathered at the State Council's headquarters, 70 per cent supported the appointment of Merham.

The general assembly convened amid heavy security, with police cordoning off the stairs leading to the meeting hall and refusing entry to reporters and photographers.

The general assembly was held after the State Council's secretariat-general received a letter from the president's office nominating Merham, the State Council's longest serving deputy chairman, and setting 2 June as the date for the emergency general assembly.

The law governing the State Council entitles the president to nominate a chairman for the State Council. Following the vote it is now no more than a formality for President Mubarak to issue a decree confirming Merham's appointment.

The choice of Merham to succeed judge El-Sayed Nofal, who died on 21 May, as head of the State Council ended two weeks of wrangling over the vacant seat.

The struggle erupted the day after Nofal's death when members of the State Council's special committee met to nominate a successor and suggested Mohamed El-Husseini, another senior deputy chairman, take over. El-Husseini's nomination angered Merham who insisted that it was his right to occupy the post. Members of the special committee responded by pointing out that the law regulating the choice of State Council chairman does not stipulate that the longest serving deputy should automatically take over.

Merham's deteriorating eyesight and lack of appropriate experience were cited by the committee members as the main reasons behind their decision.

"During his judicial career, and even before losing his eyesight, Merham did not hear any lawsuits. The posts he occupied have all been administrative ones," said judge Adel Farghali, member of the special committee, refuting suggestions that Merham had been overlooked because he was a Copt.

In an attempt to head off any conflict, President Hosni Mubarak then intervened, asking the chairman of the Central Auditing Authority Judge Gawdat El-Malt to mediate. El-Malt met with members of the committee and told them that the president had stressed that the matter be resolved according to the letter of the law. This was immediately interpreted as signalling that Mubarak supported Merham.

El-Husseini, who was reluctant to talk to the media during the time of the crisis, said at Monday's general assembly that Merham had his full support and denied any rifts within the State Council.

El-Husseini is tipped to succeed Merham after the latter reaches the age of retirement in July 2009.

Merham, conceding that his failing eyesight will hinder the hearing of lawsuits, told the general assembly that he would not chair the Higher Administrative Court's three panels though he will remain the court's titular chief justice.