Egypt's military council adopts interim Constitution

[News_Editor]

Egypt's military council adopts interim Constitution

2011-03-30 23:05:10 GMT+7 (ICT)

CAIRO, EGYPT (BNO NEWS) -- Egypt's Supreme Council of the Armed Forces on Wednesday adopted an interim Constitution that includes some articles endorsed in the past referendum.

According to the Daily al-Ahram newspaper, Major General Mamduh Shahin announced that the new constitution is conformed by 62 articles, 9 of them stemming from the March 19 referendum.

Under the interim constitution, the ruling military council will remain at the helm of the North African country with full authority until the upcoming presidential elections, to be held after the parliamentary polls in September.

The constitutional reform also granted the Supreme Council full presidential authorities, ‎‎including invalidating enacted laws, introducing new legislations and representing the ‎‎country overseas.‎

Some articles were omitted from the previous constitution including the one which empowered the president to indefinitely run for presidency and another that restricted partisan and independent individuals from contesting in ‎‎presidential elections.

The interim constitution establishes that the presidential term will be for four years and could be extended to eight years if re-elected. The emergency law remained in place and Parliament could extend it for another six months ‎after elections through a referendum.

On March 19, a referendum was conducted over the constitutional amendments proposed by the ruling military council. Over 14 million votes of the 18 million total votes were in favor of nine constitutional ‎‎reforms.‎

Last Wednesday, the ruling military authorities approved a decree-law that criminalizes protests, strikes and sit-ins that disrupt the economy. The law assigns severe punishment to those who call for or incite sit-ins, with the maximum sentence one year in prison and fines of up to half a million Egyptian pounds (84,000 dollars).

The military council took control of Egypt after Hosni Mubarak, who led Egypt as president for three decades, stepped down after weeks of anti-government protests by crowds calling for greater democracy and respect of human rights.

The military council took control of Egypt after Hosni Mubarak, who led Egypt as president for three decades, stepped down after weeks of anti-government protests by crowds calling for greater democracy and respect of human rights.

In addition, it dissolved Mubarak's long-feared state security police. However, the ruling council has been slammed by rights groups for its use of violence against protesters and torture of detainees in recent weeks.

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