CAIRO, 6 March 2007 — Draft constitutional amendments published in an Egyptian newspaper yesterday would abolish judicial supervision of elections and make it almost impossible for the opposition Muslim Brotherhood to seek the presidency.
The text of the draft, published in the independent newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm, would substitute a committee for the judges who now have a constitutional duty to oversee voting. The proposals match some ideas floated by senior members of the ruling National Democratic Party but parliamentary sources said they were open to revision before they are final.
The amendments would deprive nonparty independents of the right to stand for the presidency and ban all political activity based “on any religious reference or basis.”
The proposed changes could also clear the way for the government and ruling party to change the electoral system so that the Muslim Brotherhood cannot compete even for parliamentary seats, as they did with some success in 2005.
The deputy leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, the country’s largest opposition movement, said the constitutional proposals would be a step backward, perpetuating the present government and enabling the ruling party to install Gamal Mubarak in place of his father, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
“The aim is to marginalize our role in Egyptian political life,” the Brotherhood official, Mohamed Habib, told Reuters. Under the existing system, the Muslim Brotherhood could field a presidential candidate as an independent if its members won enough seats in Parliament and local councils.
Although the government refuses to let the influential Islamist movement form a political party, Brotherhood members standing as independents were able to win about one-fifth of the seats in the lower house of Parliament in 2005.
Under the new text, which Al-Masry Al-Youm said was approved by a drafting committee, only recognized political parties would be able to field presidential candidates.
On the supervision of elections, it says: “A high committee enjoying independence and impartiality will undertake the supervision of elections in the manner organized by the law.” The constitution also stipulates that parliamentary elections must take place on a single day.
