Constitutional referendum in Egypt 2011

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The constitutional referendum in Egypt in 2011 was made necessary by the revolution in Egypt in 2011 and took place on March 19, 2011. The draft amendment to the existing constitution was prepared by a constitutional committee and authorized by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces . 77.2 percent of the voters voted for the new constitution, the turnout was around 41 percent, which is significantly more than in previous referendums. The changes took effect on March 30, 2011.

Women wait in front of a polling station

background

The referendum was the first free election in Egypt since 1952.

The constitution, which dates back to 1971, was repealed by the Supreme Council of the Egyptian Armed Forces on February 13, 2011 - two days after the forced resignation of Hosni Mubarak. The Military Council then set up an eight-member committee of high-ranking lawyers to work out amendments to the constitution that would enable free, democratic presidential and parliamentary elections. On March 4, 2011, the changes to the constitution were presented to the public and a referendum was announced for March 19, 2011. Within 6 months, first parliamentary and then presidential elections should then be held according to the newly defined voting modes.

The changes are intended to ensure fair, democratic presidential and parliamentary elections. After the elections held in this way, a constituent assembly should then work out a fundamental revision of the constitution or a completely new constitution. The Supreme Military Council appointed a committee of high-ranking lawyers to monitor the electoral process. A total of 16,000 members of the judiciary were used for detailed monitoring of the more than 54,000 polling stations for around 45 million eligible voters.

The constitutional committee

The members of the Constitutional Committee are:

  1. As chairman, the former judge Tariq al-Bishri .
  2. Mahmoud Atef el-Banna, Professor of Constitutional Law, Cairo University .
  3. Mohamed Hassanein Abdel-Al, Professor of Constitutional Law, Cairo University .
  4. Mohamed Bahey Abou Younis, Professor of Constitutional Law, Alexandria University ,
  5. Sobhi Saleh, lawyer , member of the Egyptian Parliament from 2005 to 2010, where he represented the opposition Muslim Brotherhood and was a member of the Legal Committee.
  6. Maher Samy Youssef, Public Prosecutor, Advisor to the President of the Supreme Constitutional Court. Youssef is a Christian / Copt.
  7. Hassan AlBadrawi, Public Prosecutor, Vice President of the Supreme Constitutional Court.
  8. Hatem Bagato, Public Prosecutor, Chairman of the Advisory Commission of the Supreme Constitutional Court.

Apart from Maher Samy Youssef, none of them belonged to the eleven-member committee that was entrusted with the revision of the constitution by Husni Mubarak shortly before his resignation as Egyptian president.

However, the committee's options were severely restricted from the outset by the military leadership. The goal was not a completely new constitution, but initially only six articles (of the previously applicable constitution) were to be revised.

Five articles (Articles 76, 77, 88, 93 and 189) deal with the modalities of the presidential election. Article 179, however, is to be deleted because in the name of the fight against terrorism, fundamental civil rights guaranteed in the constitution (see below) could be suspended.

The amendments / changes

In summary, the changes are as follows:

Article 75

The president must be Egyptian. [Also] his parents are not allowed to be citizens of another state. He cannot be married to a non-Egyptian.

Article 76

The president is determined by direct, public and secret elections. Only those who are supported by at least 30 elected members of the Egyptian People's Assembly (Maglis al-Shaab) or the Shura Council (Maglis al-Shura), or by at least 30,000 voters from at least 15 governorates , can be nominated as a candidate , whereby the The number of supporters in each of these governorates cannot be less than 1,000. Any party that has at least one seat in the People's Assembly or in the Shura Council can propose one of these members for election as President. A commission (the Presidential Elections Commission ) made up of senior lawyers will oversee the presidential elections, from drawing up the lists of candidates to announcing the final results.

Article 77

The presidency can last a maximum of two times four years.

Article 88

The presidential election will take place under the supervision of an electoral commission made up of judges.

Article 93

Whether someone is entitled to be a member of the Chamber of Deputies can only be decided by the Constitutional Court.

Article 139

An elected president must appoint a vice-president within 60 days.

Article 148

The president can declare a state of emergency. This declaration must be submitted to the People's Assembly within one week and can only come into force if the majority of the People's Assembly agrees. The state of emergency may not be maintained for longer than 6 months, unless the population would agree to an extension in a referendum.

Article 179

Will be canceled / deleted. The repeal / deletion of this article was one of the main concerns of the democracy movement, because with this article, in the name of the fight against terrorism, fundamental civil rights guaranteed in the constitution (Art. 41 - Individual freedom, protection against arbitrary arrests, intervention of judicial judgment, Art. 44 - Inviolability of the home, Art. 45 - protection of privacy, protection of the secrecy of letters, mail and telecommunications). In addition, according to Art. 179, the President could freely decide before which court (civil, military or special / state security court) the case of a suspect should be heard.

Article 189

[Refers to the time after the - yet to be held - new elections]
The President (with the approval of the Cabinet), the People's Assembly and the Shura Council [if the respective half of the MPs so demand] the right to demand a new constitution. A constituent assembly of 100 members, the vast majority of whom are to be determined at a joint assembly of the two houses of parliament, is to draft a new constitution within 6 months. The draft [of this new constitution] is to be submitted to the population for a referendum 15 days after its completion by the president. [If the population approves this draft] the new constitution should come into force on the day of the referendum.

Approval and criticism

The Muslim Brotherhood , the overthrown National Democratic Party (NDP) and the Islamist Salafists supported the constitution . While the Salafists see the new constitution as a guarantee that the Islamic legal concept, the Sharia , will be retained, the Muslim Brotherhood argued with the stability of the country. If the answer was no, the further procedure would not have been defined.

An alliance of parties, movements and personalities opposed the changes. The hasty execution and the insufficiently significant changes were named as points of criticism. The new parties must first organize themselves differently from the Muslim Brotherhood and the NDP.

In addition, the change was rejected by many members of the revolutionary youth organizations, left and liberal parties and the Coptic churches on the grounds that an amendment to a constitution that was annulled in February 2011 does not make sense.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ High turnout marks 'orderly' Egypt vote. March 19, 2011, accessed March 20, 2011 .
  2. ↑ a b Egyptians vote on constitutional changes. In: ORF . March 18, 2011, accessed March 18, 2011 .
  3. ^ New constitution for Egypt. In: n-tv. March 20, 2011, accessed March 21, 2011 .
  4. ↑ a b c d Ivesa Lübben: Voting in festive clothes . In: the daily newspaper . March 21, 2011, accessed March 22, 2011 .
  5. ↑ Official government website: February 13, 2011: The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces: Constitutional Proclamation
  6. ^ Taz-Online February 15, 2011: Revolution in Egypt. New constitution is on the way
  7. ↑ Egyptian government. Communication: Suspension of the Constitution
  8. ↑ Egyptian government March 4, 2011: Referendum on suggested amendments on constitution of the Arab Republic of Egypt  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.cabinet.gov.eg  
  9. ^ Spiegel-Online February 14, 2011: Military Council promises a quick referendum
  10. ^ Die Zeit-Online February 14, 2011: Egypt's military promises constitutional referendum
  11. ^ Al-Masry Al-Youm March 6, 2011: Supervisors of constitutional referendum hold first meeting
  12. ^ Al-Masry Al-Youm March 7, 2011: 16,000 from judiciary to supervise constitutional reform
  13. ^ Carnegie Endowment March 16, 2011: Overview of Egypt's Constitutional Referendum
  14. ^ New York Times February 15, 2011: In Egypt, a panel of Jurists Is Given the Task of Revising the Country's Constitution
  15. ↑ Sawtuna / University Münster February 16, 2011: Tariq al-Bishri, Islam Democrat and constitutional father
  16. ^ Taz-Online February 28, 2011: Reform of the Constitution in Egypt. The relation to Sharia is controversial
  17. ^ Society for Threatened Peoples February 21, 2011: Egypt: Christians demand more rights. Copts demonstrate for secular state
  18. ↑ Berliner Zeitung February 17, 2011: Constitutional change at speed
  19. ^ Al-Masry Al-Youm February 15, 2011: Army-appointed constitutional committee fails to please everyone
  20. ^ The Daily News Egypt February 8, 2011: Mubarak forms reform committees, constitution reform panel named
  21. ↑ taz February 15, 2011: New constitution is on the way.
  22. ↑ Handelsblatt February 9, 2011: Revision of the constitution: There is a lot at stake for Egypt's army
  23. ^ Egypt State Information Service February 13, 2011: Suspension of the Constitution
  24. ^ Egypt State Information Service February 13, 2011: The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces: Constitutional Proclamation
  25. ↑ Reuters: Proposed changes to Egypt's constitution
  26. ↑ TAZ.de: Reform of the Constitution in Egypt - The relation to Sharia is controversial
  27. ^ Carnegieendowment.org: Egypt's Draft Constitutional Amendments Answer Some Questions and Raise Others
  28. ↑ SIS.gov.eg: Army Council issues statement on constitutional amendments