Egypt’s mitigated constitution

Is Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi so afraid of his upcoming parliament that he gave instructions to start the campaign of “we got stuck with this constitution”, suggesting that it is time to overthrow or remove it?

The information available about the formation of the next Egyptian parliament indicates that it will be a tame military parliament loyal to Al-Sisi that will not stir trouble if it is controlled from the core. Such control can be achieved by hindering anyone who thinks of contesting the candidate list that was formed under the direct supervision of Al-Sisi’s son. The list is made up of the remnants of the tyrant military state, including retired generals, saboteurs and thugs that have been around since the youth of Kamal El-Shazly and Safwat Al-Sharif.

This information also indicates that the majority of the figures, parties and groups who had a hand in the 25 January Revolution have announced that they will not participate in the elections after they realised that the process of planning and engineering the electoral arena was carried out in a manner that will achieve Al-Sisi’s intentions. Al-Sisi insisted on the need to unite in one candidate list in order to ensure that the parliament achieved is on the same page as the general and that, therefore, will not pose a threat to Al-Sisi or cause him any trouble.

So, what is pushing Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi to tamper with the constitution on which the masses demanded a vote during the time leading up to the parliamentary elections?

Al-Sisi’s hints at potentially amending the constitution coincided with the announcement of the list of unified military police candidates that they would adopt the phrase “we will amend the constitution” as their campaign slogan. This suggests that the next parliament agrees with the general’s desires to tamper with the constitution, meaning that the battle is not between the powers of the president and those of the House of Representatives but between the people and the rulers of the country.

The issue is that this is not the first time Al-Sisi has tampered with the constitution with the goal of intimidation through the parliament. Several months ago, during a Ramadan dinner party, he said: “I say to every Egyptian that this constitution is very ambitious and if the powers outlined in it are not used wisely and nationalistically by the parliament, it could greatly harm the citizens and Egypt. We will not make extraordinary measures, I guarantee this. The parliament’s performance may be very dangerous, either deliberately or not, and it may ruin everything we are working for.”

Was Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi and his media hypnotised or sedated when they got stuck with the constitution, after being told that it would mitigate the political tension and act as a vaccine against terrorism? Did they later wake up to find that the country is facing the danger of drowning, in exchange for the constitution and parliament to float?

The proof of this is the fact that Al-Sisi’s media machine is trying to distract the people of Egypt and divert their attention from discussions and debates regarding the relationship between the president and the parliament, as outlined by the new constitution, and to create the illusion that the parliament’s powers may hinder the president. This is being done in order to divert their attention from Al-Sisi’s true motives for tampering with the constitution. This is an old story that has been repeated on many occasions: the drama between the president and the general has existed since the time of Gamal Abdel Nasser and Abdel Hakim Amer, and Hosni Mubarak and Mohammed Abdel Halim Abu Ghazala.

Now we are facing a constitution that includes an article customised by Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi from when he was defence minister. He had been content with leading the coup and had announced that he had no intention or desire to become president. This is how he passed the article necessitating the approval of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) for the appointment of defence minister.

This article suggests that it is not the constitution that Al-Sisi’s camp feels that they are “stuck with” but the defence minister. If we consider this in coordination with the leaks regarding the relationship between Al-Sisi and his defence minister, and in light of Al-Sisi’s promotion of his brother-in-law to Army Chief of Staff, we can conclude that the desire to amend the constitution stems from a spurning of the current defence minister more than from the line we have been fed about being afraid for the state.

Only time will tell what will happen in the senior leadership ranks in Egypt. As for the facts on the ground, they suggest that the first article in the constitution of Al-Sisi’s authority should read: “Egypt is a farcical and ludicrous state and its president is from North Korea.”

Translated from Al-Araby, 18 September 2015

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.