Maged Mandour
In advance of Egypt’s presidential election, scheduled to take place between
February and May 2018, Egyptian MP Ismail Nasreddine put forth a proposal to amend Article 140 of
the Egyptian Constitution to extend the presidential term from four to six years, postponing the
election until 2020. If extended, the presidential term would be back to what it was under former
President Hosni Mubarak, in effect it would undo one of the achievements of the 2011 revolution,
which weakened the power of the presidency. Even though President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi has
consolidated his control of the media and civil society and deliberately weakened the opposition
over the past four years, this potential amendment shows that he is looking to further expand the
power of the presidency he currently holds.
According to Article 226 of the
Egyptian constitution, a two-thirds majority in the people’s assembly must first approve the
amendment, which will then be put to a national referendum. If put to a vote, the amendment is
likely to pass, as Nasreddine’s call has received widespread support from the majority Tahya Misr
electoral coalition, which has close links to the pro-Sisi security
apparatus.
Some prominent members of the 25-30 coalition, a loose alliance
of independent MPs that acts as the parliamentary opposition, have come out against the proposal.
However, the vote on the transfer of Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia, support for which was
divided along similar lines, suggests this vote is also likely to pass. This is largely because of
the small size of the opposition, Tahya Misr’s extensive control over the Parliament, and the
support of Speaker of the House Ali Abdel-Aal.
The question of whether to
extend presidential limits has come up before, though it failed to generate enough support and was
feared to generate popular anger. Nasreddine’s proposal echoes earlier statements by Sisi himself,
who hinted in September 2015 that the Constitution, which he argued was written with “good
intentions,” needed to be amended in order to build a stronger central
state.
This is part of consistent regime rhetoric, echoed by legislators’
repeated calls to enhance the power of the presidency. However, even now that the proposal has more
support in Parliament, Nasreddine has been unclear as to whether Parliament will debate the
amendment this year or whether it even would apply to Sisi’s current term or just future ones. This
ambiguity reflects fears of popular opposition, an important factor in the regime’s calculations,
but also of growing opposition among elites.
For example, Amr Moussa, the
former foreign affairs minister under Hosni Mubarak and a presidential candidate in 2012, has come
out against the proposed amendment, as has Ahmed Shafiq, an air force general who was briefly prime
minister under Mubarak and also a presidential candidate in 2012.
The
amendment aims to offer the option to postpone the election even though Sisi’s re-election is all
but certain. His crackdown on the media and civil society, including shutting down more than 57 news
and media websites accused of supporting terrorism in May 2017, would assure his victory. Many of
these websites were critical of the regime and, more importantly, provided an outlet for independent
writers whose views the regime could not control.
In addition, the regime
has tightened its grip on civil society, most notably when the new civil society law, which is
expected to stifle organizations’ operations, was ratified on May 24, 2017. The law requires NGOs to
seek official approval to publish findings of any opinion polls or field research that they conduct
– so any potential reports about election rigging or irregularities in campaigning can no longer be
published without heavy penalties.
The new law also imposes heavy fines and
long prison sentences for simple financial violations and gives the state control over NGO funding
from both domestic and international sources.
The opposition remains weak,
subject to regime pressure and unlikely to unite, whether to mount an effective challenge to Sisi’s
re-election or to oppose the constitutional amendment. State policies have fragmented and weakened
the opposition.
For instance, the 2015 electoral laws put smaller parties
at a disadvantage, forcing them to compete for resources and giving them less representation in a
weak Parliament dominated by the pro-Sisi Tahya Misr coalition. The Islamist opposition is in even
more disarray. Its largest political entity, the Muslim Brotherhood, is banned and labeled as a
terror group. The Salafi current, most heavily represented in politics by the Nour Party, has lost
the appeal it had in 2011 and 2012, as reflected in the party’s abysmal performance in the 2015
parliamentary elections.
Even if the presidential election is free and
fair, neither the secular nor Islamist opposition has the appeal or unity to mount even a semblance
of an effective campaign against the regime’s superior resources, control of the media, and ability
repress civil society and stifle protests.
Even though former presidential
candidate Hamdeen Sabahi called for the civil opposition to unite behind one candidate in May 2017,
they have yet to choose anyone. Even if the opposition can unite, there are no clear options. Sabahi
has excluded himself from running since he has become a divisive figure because of his participation
in the 2014 presidential race, which many saw as a way to legitimize an already rigged
election.
Khaled Ali, a long-term critic of the regime who has gained much
public attention for leading the legal battle against the transfer of the Tiran and Sanafir islands
to Saudi Arabia, has been convicted of public indecency, and pending the outcome of his legal battle
a criminal record would disqualify him from running.
Mohammad Anwar
al-Sadat, the head of the Reform and Development Party and a strong government critic who was
stripped of his seat in February for “degrading the Parliament,” has stated his intention to run but
does not have enough backing to be a real contender.
A presidential
election in 2018 would come in the middle of rapidly worsening economic and security conditions and
open opposition – among not just the general public, but also the judiciary and the political and
military elites – to the regime’s controversial decision to transfer the Red Sea islands to Saudi
Arabia.
This case is especially damaging to the regime’s narrative of being
the protector of the nation. For example, one of the accusations used to justify the coup against
the Muslim Brotherhood was that they had planned to sell Sinai or the Suez Canal to Qatar. Elections
could place some scrutiny on Sisi’s record and draw attention to his declining popularity since
2014, something he has admitted himself and has been confirmed by government-controlled
polls.
Even if his re-election is a sure bet, extending the presidential
term limit would spare Sisi potential public scrutiny or even a similar small embarrassment to the
2014 presidential election, when Sabahi challenged Sisi to a debate that he refused to attend. It
also would bolster the power of the presidency and spare the regime the distraction of an
inconveniently timed campaign that might draw attention to its mixed record on economic and security
issues. Although it is in firm control of political space, the regime seems to be playing for time.
Postponing the election gives Sisi at least an additional two years to further tighten his grip on
power before even the semblance of an electoral contestation.
Maged Mandour is a political
analyst and writes the “Chronicles of the Arab Revolt” column for Open Democracy. Follow him on
Twitter @MagedMandour. This commentary first appeared at Sada, an online journal published by the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (www.carnegieendowment.org/sada).
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