Egypt’s Parliament Approves Constitutional Amendment To Extend Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi’s Presidential Term

Egypt’s Parliament on Tuesday voted and approved constitutional amendments that will allow general-turned-president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to stay in power until 2030, reported BBC.

Mr. Sisi led the military’s overthrow of Egypt’s first democratically elected president, Mohammed Morsi, in 2013, following mass protests against the Islamic leader’s rule. He won his first term as president in 2014 and then got re-elected in March 2018 with more than 97 percent of the vote. He faced no serious competition as his potential rival leaders either dropped out from the election or were arrested.

According to Article 140 of Egypt’s current constitution, the president serves four-year terms and may only be re-elected once. The changes approved by MPs on Tuesday would extend the presidential terms to six years. The amendments would extend Mr. Sisi’s current term to six years from four and then allow him to run again for a third term, which would last for another six years. It will allow him to stand for one additional six-year term in 2024.

The speaker for the House of Representatives, Ali Abdel-Aal confirmed a vast majority of MPs has agreed on the newly introduced amendments. Out of a total of 554 eligible members, 531 members voted in favor of the new amendments while 22 members rejected and only one member abstained from voting. Abdel Aal called the change a middle-ground option.

“This way, I can say that the amended constitution still does not lead to any kind of inheritance of power or perpetuation of rule,” he said at a committee hearing. For the amendments to go into effect, a national referendum has been decided for the dates of 22, 23 and 24 of April. Egyptian nationals living abroad can vote on April 20 and 21, reported Egyptian Streets.

The opposition claimed that Parliament is dominated by supporters of Mr. Sisi and works like a rubber stamp for the president.