Egypt's new constitutional declaration triggers controversy

Controversy has been aroused in Egypt as the interim President Adli Mansour issued a temporary constitutional declaration on Monday, outlining a timetable for a transitional period which will last for six months until presidential elections are held. According to the declaration, the president is to form a panel of judicial experts to draft amendments to the suspended 2012 constitution within 15 days. The panel will be given 30 days to finalize the amendments, then refer it to a larger 50-member committee representing all segments of society, including political parties, workers, farmers, syndicates, Al-Azhar, the Egyptian church, the army, police and other public figures. The committee has 60 days to finalize the draft, and then submit it to the president, who should put the amendments for a public referendum within 30 days. The president has 15 days to call parliamentary elections from the day the constitution is approved. According to the declaration, parliamentary elections will be held within two months from the president's call for election, while the presidential election will be called upon within one week from the parliament's first session. The interim president is entitled with the legislative power until a parliament is elected, and also has the right to impose a state of emergency following the approval of the cabinet. Essam al-Erian, deputy chief of Muslim Brotherhood (MB)'s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), which supports the deposed president, criticized the approval of the constitutional declaration, terming it as "overnight constitutional declaration." On his facebook page, Erian described the new constitutional declaration as usurping the legislative authority from a council elected by the people (in reference to the recently dissolved Shura Council, the upper House of the parliament), bringing the country back to zero level. "Are the Egyptians a field for experiments of the coup men," he wondered. The vision is obvious, as the objective wasn't only ousting an elected president, but toppling the nation identity and peoples rights in democracy. On its official website, MB's Freedom and Justice Party said the new constitutional declaration is "void and null." Also, Ahmed Abou Barakah, the legal adviser of the party said, "it is one of the steps and procedures of the military coup to steal the democratic legitimacy." Meanwhile, the Islamic Building and Development Party, the political arm of ultra-conservative Al-Gamaa Al-Islamyia group, said the current interim president is illegitimate and his decisions are null and unrecognizable. Egypt's ultra-conservative salafist Al-Nour Party, the country' s second-biggest Islamist group after the Muslim Brotherhood, commended the declaration, which it said conveys reassurance messages to the Egyptians. A statement issued by the party asserted the people were afraid of imposing exceptional measures that restrict their freedoms, but the declaration came with hopes for more freedoms and democracy. However, the Tamarod "Rebel" Campaign which fired the first spark of the protests that deposed Morsi by collecting signatures calling for an early presidential elections, said Tuesday the group wasn't consulted about the declaration, asserting it was surprised like other political forces. "We are keen to make successful transitional period until forming a government to swiftly alleviate the sufferings of the ordinary citizens," Mahmoud Bader the spokesman of the campaign said. He called all Egyptians not to forget the squares within political crisis, claiming the squares are the main pillars for strengthening the stands of the protestors. Abdel Ghafar Shoker, head of the socialist Popular Coalition party, said the declaration is carrying a reassurance message for the Egyptians, because it includes a schedule for the 9 months transitional period, which means the country's institutions with its three authorities will be completed within less then one year. Ahmed Darrag, prominent figure in Egypt main opposition National Salvation Front, said it is natural that a good declaration will be issued by constitutional figure, in reference to Adli Manosur, the Egyptian interim president, who is also the head of the Supreme constitutional Court. Darrag hailed the tenth item of the declaration which bans forming parties on a religious reference, leading to dissolve the current Islamist motivated parties.