Thursday, March 31, 2011

Egypt's military junta announces election before end of year

Egypt's presidential elections take place one or two months after parliamentary elections due in September. The Egyptian military junta running the country since last February 11 also announced an interim constitution which will run until parliamentary and presidential elections. According to Mamdouh Shahin said Wednesday, a member of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, the interim constitution has 62 items and incorporates several amendments recently adopted in a referendum.

This morning, the military junta and advanced his Facebook page to announce an interim constitution. Shahin also announced that presidential elections be held "in one or two months" after the parliamentary vote scheduled for next September, even without precise day. The parliamentary elections were called for September on Monday, and was only confirm when presidential elections would be held, which previously announced it would be after the parliamentary elections.

Gen. Shahin said that once the new parliament is elected, the legislature appointed a committee that will draft a new permanent constitution, which will be submitted to a referendum. The military chief said he was confident that the committee finish its work before it takes office the new head of state, but if not, the new Constitution will enter into force when it has assumed the president is elected in the elections the third quarter.

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces took over the legislative functions after the dissolution of Parliament, on 13 February, two days after the fall of the regime of Hosni Mubarak. The provisional constitution, the general called Ad Constitutional Shahin is a shortened version of the current Constitution and incorporates the amendments approved by referendum on 19 March.

These reforms included changes to the Constitution in seven articles and the elimination of an eighth, with the aim, among other things, to limit to two mandates of the president and reduce the requirements to run for the presidency.

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