Egypt adopts constitutional amendments that allow al-Sisi to stay on till 2030

Al-Sisi

As expected the referendum about the changes to the Egyptian constitution of 2014 turned out to be a yes-vote. On Tuesdat the final results after three days of voting showed that the proposed amendments to the country’s 2014 constitution received a support of 88.8 per cent. Only 11.1 per cent, or 2,9 million voters, voted no to the amendments. The turn out was rather low, only 27.2 million participated in the poll, a turn out of 44.3 per cent of the 61.5 million eligible voters, even though there had been stories that poor voters had been lured to the voting boots with food packages and other presents.
The major significance of the “yes” vote is that the amendments will extend Egypt’s sitting president, Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi's term by two years, from 2022 to 2024.President al-Sisi will also be allowed in 2024 to run for another — and final — six-year term. Others who wish to compete in 2024 also will have the chance to run two times. Abdel-Hadi Al-Qasabi, leader of the parliamentary majority, the Support Egypt coalition, explained that the “Members of Parliament decided to give Al-Sisi a chance to run for another six-year term beyond 2024 in appreciation of his role in helping the Egyptian people in 2013 get rid of the Muslim Brotherhood regime and restore stability.”
Al-Qasabi told reporters that the amendments will require that the parliament in the next stage moves to issue new laws aimed at regulating the formation and election of the House of Representatives and the Senate. He addesd that these laws should make sure that 25 per cent of seats in the House be allocated to women, and that other marginally represented sectors, including Copts, youth, the physically challenged, workers and farmers be also adequately represented." Al-Qasabi also expects that new laws regulating the selection of the prosecutor-general, the president of the Supreme Constitutional Court, and the performance of the State Council in line with the amendments, will also be issued, as well as for the Armed Forces." Parliamentary elections are expected in Egypt at the end of 2020, and will include both the House of Representatives and the Senate.