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Egypt’s Interim Head of State Seeks Quick Elections Egypt’s Interim Head of State Seeks Quick Elections
(35 minutes later)
CAIRO (Reuters) — Egypt’s interim head of state has set a speedy timetable for elections to drag the Arab world’s biggest country from crisis, after the military ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi last week sparked a wave of bloody protests. CAIRO — Seeking to reassure Egyptians and the world about its intention to return to civilian democracy, the military-led interim government on Tuesday laid out a brisk timetable to overhaul Egypt’s suspended constitution, elect a new Parliament and choose a new president, all in the space of about six months.
A decree issued Monday by Adli Mansour pointed to a parliamentary ballot within about six months with a presidential vote to follow. However, it was faulted for repeating flaws in the 2011 transition plan that contributed to the current crisis. The release of the new timetable, issued in the name of the interim president, Adli Mansour, appeared intended to show steps toward civilian democracy after the military’s mass shooting of more than 50 Islamist protesters on Monday raised new doubts about the democratic promises of the generals who ousted former President Mohamed Morsi last week. Under United States law, if Washington officials deems the generals’ takeover to be a “coup” or decides that Cairo is moving away from democracy, then the Egyptian military stands to lose about $1.3 billion a year in American aid.
Mr. Mansour decreed that Egypt will hold new parliamentary elections once amendments to its suspended constitution are approved in a referendum — a process that could take about six months, less than some people had expected. Previous schedules for Egypt’s political transition, however, have often gone unmet, especially under the roughly 18 months of military rule that ended last summer.
In what appeared to be an olive branch to Islamists, the decree included controversial language put into the constitution last year that defined the principles of Islamic sharia law. Mr. Mansour, the chief justice of the Supreme Constitutional Court who was tapped by the generals as interim president, has yet to address the public. Just before midnight Monday, he issued a “constitutional declaration” laying out a transitional road map that called for the immediate formation of 10-person committee to revise the charter approved in December. The panel would be composed of six judges chosen by three top courts — two from each — along with four Egyptian law professors. It was unclear who would pick the four professors.
Al Nour, the country’s second-biggest Islamist group after the Muslim Brotherhood, said on Tuesday it would accept the choice of the former finance minister, Samir Radwan, as interim prime minister. The committee is expected to complete their revisions in about a month and then pass them to a larger committee of 50 people representing various government institutions, syndicates and social groups as well as other prominent figures. Some would be selected by their institutions and the others chose by Mr. Mansour and his soon-to-be-named cabinet. The military and the police would both pick representatives.
Nader Bakkar, an Al Nour spokesman, said the party would accept Mr. Radwan because he met the party’s criteria that he be a ‘'technocrat'’ economist and have previous experience in government administration. If approved by the larger committee, the revisions would move to a public referendum after about three months, followed in about two more weeks by parliamentary elections. Mr. Mansour’s plan called for presidential elections about three months after ratification of the new charter.
The military-backed transitional administration is keen to win Al Nour’s support for a new government to show it is acceptable to Islamists after the army toppled Mr. Morsi last week. Neither Mr. Monsour nor the military commander who named him, Gen. Abdul Fattah el-Sisi, have said anything about how they plan to include Mr. Morsi’s legions of Islamist supporters in the political process. Millions oppose his ouster as illegitimate and undemocratic.
Al Nour had said last week it would not accept former United Nations diplomat Mohamed ElBaradei as interim prime minister, deepening the turmoil surrounding the transition. Mr. Morsi’s party, formed by the Islamists of the Muslim Brotherhood, won nearly half the seats in the last parliamentary election, and more conservative Islamist groups known as Salafis won nearly a quarter more.
Al Nour said on Monday it was pulling out of negotiations over the new government in response to the killing of dozens of pro-Morsi protesters. Mr. Morsi, who is now in military detention without charges at an undisclosed location, was elected with a little more than 51 percent of the vote more than a year ago. All acknowledged that his popularity has slipped, and millions marched in the streets on the anniversary of Mr. Morsi’s inauguration to call for his removal.
Nathan Brown, a leading expert on Egypt’s constitution at George Washington University in Washington, said that while Monday’s decree laid out a clear sequence for transition, it repeated many of the mistakes of the post-Mubarak process. But he still has millions of ardent supporters and since his ouster tens of thousands have demonstrated in the streets to call for his reinstatement.
‘'It was drawn up by an anonymous committee; it was issued by executive fiat; the timetable is rushed; the provisions for consultation are vague; and it promises inclusiveness but gives no clear procedural guidelines for it,'’ he told Reuters. The military-led government has issued arrest warrants for hundreds of top Brotherhood leaders and jailed some of them. And it has shut down the Brotherhood’s satellite television network and two other Islamist channels.
Calling the forced ouster of an elected president by a small group of generals a “coup,” the Brotherhood has vowed to oppose the new military-led government as a violation of democratic principles.