Ashraf Abo Arafe

The Egyptian embassy in New Zealand opened it’s doors for voting on the amendment of some provisions of the Constitution. The amendments includ:

Article (102) First paragraph (Amended)
The House of Representatives is composed of no less than four hundred and fifty members elected by direct secret public ballot. At least one quarter of the seats shall be allocated to women.

Article (102) Third paragraph (Amended)
Other candidacy requirements, the electoral system, and division of electoral constituencies shall be defined by law in a manner which observes fair representation of the population and governorates. Elections based on the plurality voting system or proportional list, or a combination of both at whatsoever ratio may be adopted.

Article (244 bis) Addendum (Amended)
The provisions of the first paragraph of Article 102 shall apply as of the next legislative chapter.

Article (140) First paragraph (Amended)
The president shall be elected for a period of six calendar years, commencing from the day following the termination of the term of his predecessor. The president may not hold office for more than two consecutive terms.

Article (241 bis) Addendum
The current presidential term, as per the proposed amendments, shall end six years after the announcement of the results of the presidential elections in 2018. The current president shall have the right to be re-elected once.

Article (151 bis) Addendum
The President of the Republic may appoint one vice president or more, determine their competencies, and may delegate them in some of his duties, relieve them of their posts, and accept their resignation. The Vice-Presidents of the Republic shall take the oath before assuming office Provided for in article 144 of the Constitution before the President of the Republic. The provisions of the Constitution shall apply to the Vice-Presidents of the Republic in articles 141, 144, 145, 148 and 173. The president may also dismiss or accept the resignation of the vice president.

Article (160) First paragraph (Amended)
In case the President of the Republic is temporarily prevented from assuming his powers, such powers shall be given to his vice president or by the prime minister when there is no vice-president or when the vice-president cannot replace the president.

Article (160) Last paragraph (Amended)
The interim president or whoever temporarily assumes presidency may not request any amendment to the Constitution, dissolve the House of Representatives, dismiss the Government or run for the presidency.

Article (185) (Amended)
Each judicial body or organization shall manage its own affairs, shall be consulted concerning the draft laws regulating its affairs; each of them shall have an independent budget. The President of the Republic shall appoint the heads of the judicial bodies or organizations, out of the oldest seven deputies of each of the heads, for a period of four years, or until their retirement age, whichever is earlier, and for one time throughout their terms of office, as regulated by law.
A supreme council for the judicial bodies or organizations headed by the President of the Republic shall hold their common affairs. The members of the council would include the head of the Supreme Constitutional Court, the heads of the judicial bodies or organizations, the head of Cairo Appeal Court, and the Attorney-General.
The council shall have a secretary who is appointed by the President of the Republic for a period of time specified by the law and alternately between the members of the council.
In the absence of the President of the Republic, he shall be replaced temporarily by who he authorizes from among the heads of the bodies or organizations.
The council shall be competent to consider the conditions of appointing, promoting and disciplining members of bodies or organizations. The council’s opinion shall be taken on the draft laws regulating the affairs of these bodies and organizations. Decisions shall be issued with the approval of a majority of its members.

Article (189) Second paragraph (Amended)
The Prosecutor General shall be in charge of the Public Prosecution. He shall be chosen by the President of the Republic out of three nominees from the Supreme Judicial Council, the deputy heads of the Court of Cassation and the heads of the courts of appeal and the assistant attorneys for a period of four years or until reaching retirement age, whichever is earlier.

Article (190) (Amended)
The State Council is an autonomous judicial body, and it shall have the exclusive jurisdiction to settle administrative disputes and disputes relevant to the execution of all its rulings as well as the adjudication of disciplinary cases and appeals and decisions of disciplinary boards. It is the one concerned with giving opinions for the legal issues of the bodies determined by the law, revising the draft laws, the decisions that have a legislative character, the draft contracts which the law determines them and their values, and which the state or one of the public authorities is one of their parties.

Article (193) Third paragraph (Amended)
The President of the Republic shall choose the head of the Constitutional Court from among the five oldest deputy heads of the Court. The president of the Republic shall also appoint the deputy head of the Court from among two candidates, one of whom shall be nominated by the general assembly of the Court, while the head of the court shall nominate the other. The head of the board of commissioners and its members shall be appointed by a decision of the president of the republic based on the nomination of the head of the Court, and after consulting the general assembly of the court, all as prescribed by law.

Article (200) First paragraph (Amended)
The Armed Forces belong to the People, and their duty is to protect the country, preserve its security and the integrity of its territories and maintain the Constitution, democracy, the basic of civil state, as well as the people’s gains, rights and freedoms. Only the State shall be entitled to establish the Armed Forces. No individual, organization, entity, or group shall be allowed to create military or quasi-military squadrons, groups or organizations.

Article (204) Second paragraph (Amended)
No civilian shall face trial before the Military Court, except for crimes that constitute an assault against military facilities or camps of the Armed Forces, or their equivalents, or facilities that are protected by the Armed Forces, against military zones or border zones determined as military zones, against the Armed Forces’ equipment, vehicles, weapons, ammunition, documents, military secrets, or its public funds, or against military factories; crimes pertaining to military service; or crimes that constitute a direct assault against the officers or personnel of the Armed Forces by reason of performing their duties.

Article (234) (Amended)
The Minister of Defense shall be appointed upon the approval of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.

Article (243) (Amended)
The State shall endeavor that workers and farmers be appropriately represented, as regulated by law.

Article (244) (Amended)
The State shall endeavor that youth, Christians, persons with disability and Egyptians living abroad be appropriately represented in the House of Representatives, as regulated by law.

Article (248) Addendum
The Senate is concerned with studying and proposing what it sees as a tool to consolidate democracy, support national unity, social peace, the basic values of society, supreme values, rights, freedoms and public duties, deepen and expand the democratic system.

Article (249) Addendum
The opinion of the Senate shall be taken as follows:
– Proposals for the amendment of one or more articles of the Constitution.
– Projects concerning the general plan for Social and Economic Development
– Treaties of reconciliation and alliance and all treaties relating to the rights of sovereignty.
– Draft laws supplementing the constitution and others referred to Senate by the President of the Republic.
– What the President of the Republic refers to the Senate concerning the general policy of the State or its policy in Arab or foreign affairs.
The Council shall give its opinion on these matters to the President of the Republic and the President of the Council of Representatives.

Article (250) Addendum
The Senate shall consist of a number of members determined by law, not less than 180 members. Two-thirds of the members of the Council shall be elected by direct secret universal suffrage. The President of the Republic shall appoint the remaining third and the elections shall be held in accordance with the law.

Article (251) Addendum
A candidate for membership in the Senate or the person who appoints him must be an Egyptian with civil and political rights. He must have at least a university degree or equivalent, and his age must be less than thirty-five years. The law specifies the conditions of candidacy, electoral system and the division of constituencies to take into account the equitable representation of the population and the governorates. Nomination can take place through single-member election or multi-member election, or both together.

Article (252) Addendum
The membership of the Senate and House of Representatives shall not be combined.

Article (253) Addendum
The Prime Minister, his deputies, ministers and other members of the government are not accountable to the Senate.

Article (254) Addendum
The provisions of the Constitution shall apply to the Senate in articles 103, 104, 105, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 1, 2, 132, 133, 136 and 137, in a manner not inconsistent with the provisions of this section, provided that the specializations in the said articles shall be exercised by the Senate and its President.

Delete Article
Titles of chapters one and two of Part VI of the Constitution shall be deleted.

Article (5)
The constitutional amendments shall enter into force from the date of the approval of the people at the referendum by a majority of the valid votes.