Egypt’s new constitution may ban Morsy’s party

August 21, 2013 05:08 pm | Updated November 16, 2021 09:26 pm IST - Cairo

Religious parties in Egypt like that of ousted President Mohamed Morsy’s party may face dissolution while the ban on deposed dictator Hosni Mubarak’s party could be revoked under a proposed new constitution that seeks to overhaul the country’s political system.

A 10-member technical committee handed over the amended draft on Tuesday to Egypt’s interim president Adly Mansour after a month of deliberations and revisions.

The committee opted to change Article 6 to impose an outright ban on the formation of political parties based on religion or on mixing religion with politics.

This could lead to the dissolution of Islamist parties — including the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party.

The committee also ruled in favour of eliminating the Shura Council, parliament’s upper house, and lifting a ban that prevented leading officials of Mubarak’s defunct National Democratic Party from exercising political rights, including running in elections.

“Stripping citizens of their political rights must be instituted through judicial order rather than by the national charter,” Committee member Magdi El-Agati was quoted by Al-Ahram as saying.

The draft states Islamic sharia as the main source of legislation. The committee, however, decided that Article 219, which gives various interpretations of Islamic sharia, be revoked.

Article 219 was added by the Islamist-dominated constituent assembly in 2012 under the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Under the draft constitution, Egypt will have a hybrid rule that is closer to a parliamentary system, with the President and Prime Minister sharing powers, the presidential adviser for constitutional affairs said.

For the first time, an individual-candidate system will be used in the parliamentary elections and the government will be formed by the party which achieves majority in the parliament, said Ali Awad.

Meanwhile, Egypt’s interim presidency said it will announce the 50-member committee, representing all layers of society “within days” to discuss the draft.

The 2012 constitution was suspended as part of the Egyptian armed forces’ road map for Egypt’s future following Islamist president Mr Morsy’s ouster on July 3 amid mass protests against him.

Following Mr Morsy’s overthrow, Mr Mansour created a 10-member committee consisting of six judges and four constitutional law professors.

The second committee, composed of 50 public figures, will be given 60 days to review the amendments before the constitution is put to a national referendum, which will then be followed by parliamentary elections.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.