Constitution of Egypt
Encyclopedia
The Constitution of the Arab Republic of Egypt was the fundamental law
of Egypt
. It was adopted on September 11, 1971 through a public referendum
. It was later amended in 1980, 2005 and 2007. It was proclaimed to update the democratic representative
system in assertion of the rule of law, independence of the judiciary, and party plurality. On the 13th of February, 2011, the Constitution was suspended following the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak
as a result of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution
.
On March 30, 2011, it was officially voided after a new provisional constitutions have been passed by the country's ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces
.
After the revolution that led to the overthrow of the monarch, King Farouk, and the declaration of the republic
, President Nasser adopted the nation’s first written constitution as a republic in 1956. During the short spell of the United Arab Republic, (Egypt & Syria), President Nasser adopted yet another constitution for the new merger. However when this merger was dissolved, Egypt returned to the 1956 constitution as its supreme law. In 1964, President Nasser once again introduced a new written constitution for the republic as the 1963 Provisional Constitution. In 1971, when President Anwar Sadat took office, he moved to the adoption of a new democratic constitution that would allow more freedoms, a return of a more sound parliamentary life and correct democratic practice with the return of political parties and a bicameral parliamentary system.
The 1971 constitution is the fourth adopted constitution since the declaration of the republic and is known as "The Permanent Egyptian Constitution" although, since its ratification, it has been amended three times by two presidents; the first being in 1980 by President Sadat
at the end of his presidency and the two other times by President Hosni Mubarak
in both 2005 and early 2007. The last amendments were the most comprehensive with 34 articles of the constitution changed. These amendments were mainly proposed by the National Democratic Party to move the country’s political and economic tendencies further away from socialism and more towards capitalism. Nonetheless, these amendments represent a clear response to government opposition in light of the 2005 elections with articles 5, 88 and 179 adding constitutional permanence to the emergency law in place since 1981.
, various political powers in Egypt have asked for yet more reforms. Proponents of a more complete constitution intend to shape a more robust, variegated political & economic landscape. Egyptian political life would diversify, whether through more comprehensive amendments or through the adoption of a new constitution.
on 13 February 2011, following the resignation of Mubarak during the 2011 Egyptian revolution
, the army suspended the constitution. It appointed the Egyptian constitutional review committee of 2011
and on 26 February published a proposal to amend Articles 76, 77, 88, 93, 139, 148 and 189 and to remove Article 179. A referendum
to accept or reject the changes was passed. Within days the constitution was re-declared.
The constitution establishes Egypt as a "Democratic State", deriving its sovereignty from the people, and as part of the Arab World. It proclaims the system of government as a multi-party Semi-presidential system
within the framework of the basic principles and components of the Egyptian society.
The Constitution upholds the concept of separation of powers; hence balances the powers of the three main authorities (Executive, Parliament, and the Judiciary). Within this scheme, the Parliament monitors the actions of Executive Authority through many mechanisms and instruments, and in order to fulfill such monitoring role, members of the People’s Assembly
enjoy parliamentary immunity.
The Constitution establishes party plurality as the foundation of the political system (Article 5) and so allows the formation of different political parties, however political parties are not allowed to be established based on any discriminatory basis such as religion, race or sex.
The Constitution also sets out methods for its own amendment by the request of either the People's Assembly or the President's. Both of which have to be subjected to a public referendum
, after being voted for by at least two-thirds of the Assembly.
The Constitution upholds that "Individual freedom is a natural right" and regards all citizens as equals. It guarantees a set of freedoms including: The "right to protect the private life of citizens"(Article 45), "Freedom of belief and the freedom of practising religious rights" (Article 46), "Freedom of expression" (Article 47), Freedom of Press and other publications (Article 48), Freedom of Artistic and literary creations and scientific research (Article 49), Freedom of peaceful and unarmed private assembly, without the need for prior notice (Article 54), Universal suffrage, as well as the right to form civil societies (Article 55).
However, the practice of such freedoms is usually hindered by the emergency laws
that have been in effect for the past 3 decades.
And in order to elevate pressures from its 2-decade long usage of such laws and with the government’s plans of stopping the use of the emergency laws, a new Anti-Terrorism amendment was added to allow the provisioning of new laws that would help fight terrorism, given that these laws would not affect the basic rights of citizens especially those in Articles (41), (44), (45). This amendment in particular has been feared to be abused in the future by passing laws firmer than the emergency laws.
Customarily, the president is concerned with foreign policy and international relations while the Prime minister is concerned with domestic politics, economy and day-to-day operation of the government.
The President may dissolve the parliament for extraordinary reasons and must then call for new elections within 60 days.
The local Administration is made up of the governors of the 27 governorates
and the local councils.
to become acting President of Egypt if the president dies, becomes incapacitated or resigns. If the People's Assembly is dissolved at the time of a vacancy the President of the Supreme Constitutional Court
shall take over the Presidential duties. Within 60 days after a vacancy of the post presidential elections should be held.
, the lower house and the Shura Council
, the upper house.
The People’s Assembly may present the president for impeachment on the ground of grand treason or criminal conviction, by the agreement of one third of the People’s Assembly seats. The President is impeached by the agreement of two-thirds of the People’s Assembly. Upon the issuing of the impeachment decision, the president is relieved temporarily of his position and the prime minister takes office.
The People’s Assembly may ask the withdrawal of confidence from the Prime minister by the request of One-tenth of the total seats (46 members). The People’s Assembly may move to a vote of confidence from the government by a simply majority vote after at least 3 days from the request and a “istegwab” of the government. After the decision of withdrawing the confidence from the government has been made, the decision is moved to the president who may accept it and the government is then asked to resign or the president may re-present the case to the assembly once again, if the same decision was taken, the president is then forced to accept the decision. If the assembly reverts its decision, then this motion cannot be opened to the floor in the same parliamentary session.
According to the 1980 amendment of the Constitution, Islamic law (Sharia) became the principal source of legislative rules. Such wording simply implies that any new law that is being enacted or considered for enactment should not be in contravention of any prevailing principles of Islamic law (Sharia
). It is worth noting that laws regulating personal status issues (marriage
, divorce
, inheritance, etc.) are derived from Islamic norms, but penal law rules as codified in the Penal Code are entirely non-religious rules, whether they were ratified before or after the 1980 amendment. Egypt has also enacted a number of new laws to respond to contemporary standards of global economic and business reform including laws on investment, anti-money laundering, intellectual property rights, competition, consumer Protection, electronic signatures, banking, and taxation law.http://www.nyulawglobal.org/globalex/Egypt.htm#_edn2
With the apparent growing popularity of the Muslim Brotherhood
after the 2005 parliamentary elections
, the debate arose again discussing whether the state is secular or religious. The legitimacy of a religious political party is also in debate among intellectuals and politicians.
In addition, the amendments did not include a ceiling for the number of terms a president is to serve in office.
The new provisional constitution included the most recent amendments, provisional articles defining the powers of the executive and judicial branches and paved the way for parliamentary elections in September and presidential elections in November. Additionally it directly stipulated that the formation of a new constitutional drafting committee to write a new constitution. http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/380532
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/03/30/egypt.constitution/index.html
Constitution
A constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is...
of Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
. It was adopted on September 11, 1971 through a public referendum
Referendum
A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of...
. It was later amended in 1980, 2005 and 2007. It was proclaimed to update the democratic representative
Representation (politics)
In politics, representation describes how some individuals stand in for others or a group of others, for a certain time period. Representation usually refers to representative democracies, where elected officials nominally speak for their constituents in the legislature...
system in assertion of the rule of law, independence of the judiciary, and party plurality. On the 13th of February, 2011, the Constitution was suspended following the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak
Hosni Mubarak
Muhammad Hosni Sayyid Mubarak is a former Egyptian politician and military commander. He served as the fourth President of Egypt from 1981 to 2011....
as a result of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution
2011 Egyptian revolution
The 2011 Egyptian revolution took place following a popular uprising that began on Tuesday, 25 January 2011 and is still continuing as of November 2011. The uprising was mainly a campaign of non-violent civil resistance, which featured a series of demonstrations, marches, acts of civil...
.
On March 30, 2011, it was officially voided after a new provisional constitutions have been passed by the country's ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces
Supreme Council of the Armed Forces
The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces consists of a body of 20 senior officers in the Egyptian military. As a consequence of the Egyptian Revolution of 2011, the Council took the power to govern Egypt from its departing President Hosni Mubarak on February 11, 2011.The junta meets regularly, as...
.
History
Egypt is known for having one of the earliest administrative and legislative codes in history. Nevertheless, the first modern codified form of a national constitution was adopted in 1923.After the revolution that led to the overthrow of the monarch, King Farouk, and the declaration of the republic
Republic
A republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...
, President Nasser adopted the nation’s first written constitution as a republic in 1956. During the short spell of the United Arab Republic, (Egypt & Syria), President Nasser adopted yet another constitution for the new merger. However when this merger was dissolved, Egypt returned to the 1956 constitution as its supreme law. In 1964, President Nasser once again introduced a new written constitution for the republic as the 1963 Provisional Constitution. In 1971, when President Anwar Sadat took office, he moved to the adoption of a new democratic constitution that would allow more freedoms, a return of a more sound parliamentary life and correct democratic practice with the return of political parties and a bicameral parliamentary system.
The 1971 constitution is the fourth adopted constitution since the declaration of the republic and is known as "The Permanent Egyptian Constitution" although, since its ratification, it has been amended three times by two presidents; the first being in 1980 by President Sadat
Sadat
- See also :* Anwar Sadat, former President of Egypt* Sadat * Saadat* Sadat. Term also used for the descendents of Holy Prophet Muhammad through Imam Ali and Bibi Fatima progeny....
at the end of his presidency and the two other times by President Hosni Mubarak
Hosni Mubarak
Muhammad Hosni Sayyid Mubarak is a former Egyptian politician and military commander. He served as the fourth President of Egypt from 1981 to 2011....
in both 2005 and early 2007. The last amendments were the most comprehensive with 34 articles of the constitution changed. These amendments were mainly proposed by the National Democratic Party to move the country’s political and economic tendencies further away from socialism and more towards capitalism. Nonetheless, these amendments represent a clear response to government opposition in light of the 2005 elections with articles 5, 88 and 179 adding constitutional permanence to the emergency law in place since 1981.
, various political powers in Egypt have asked for yet more reforms. Proponents of a more complete constitution intend to shape a more robust, variegated political & economic landscape. Egyptian political life would diversify, whether through more comprehensive amendments or through the adoption of a new constitution.
on 13 February 2011, following the resignation of Mubarak during the 2011 Egyptian revolution
2011 Egyptian revolution
The 2011 Egyptian revolution took place following a popular uprising that began on Tuesday, 25 January 2011 and is still continuing as of November 2011. The uprising was mainly a campaign of non-violent civil resistance, which featured a series of demonstrations, marches, acts of civil...
, the army suspended the constitution. It appointed the Egyptian constitutional review committee of 2011
Egyptian constitutional review committee of 2011
A committee formed in February 2011 by the Egyptian military following suspension of the constitution during the 2011 Egyptian revolution. The committee's purpose is to review the constitution of Egypt, to be ratified by a referendum.-Aims and composition:...
and on 26 February published a proposal to amend Articles 76, 77, 88, 93, 139, 148 and 189 and to remove Article 179. A referendum
Egyptian constitutional referendum, 2011
A constitutional referendum was held in Egypt on 19 March 2011, following the 2011 Egyptian revolution. More than 14 million were in favour, while around 4 million opposed the changes; 41% of 45 million eligible voters turned out to vote....
to accept or reject the changes was passed. Within days the constitution was re-declared.
Overview
The Constitutional Proclamation of the constitution declares the main principles of the Egyptian Political system which are: Peace through Freedom, Arab Unity, National Development and Freedom.The constitution establishes Egypt as a "Democratic State", deriving its sovereignty from the people, and as part of the Arab World. It proclaims the system of government as a multi-party Semi-presidential system
Semi-presidential system
The semi-presidential system is a system of government in which a president and a prime minister are both active participants in the day-to-day administration of the state...
within the framework of the basic principles and components of the Egyptian society.
The Constitution upholds the concept of separation of powers; hence balances the powers of the three main authorities (Executive, Parliament, and the Judiciary). Within this scheme, the Parliament monitors the actions of Executive Authority through many mechanisms and instruments, and in order to fulfill such monitoring role, members of the People’s Assembly
People's Assembly of Egypt
The People's Assembly is the lower house of Egypt's bicameral parliament. In spite of its lower status, however, it plays a more important role in drafting legislation and day-to-day legislative duties than the Shura Council, the upper house....
enjoy parliamentary immunity.
The Constitution establishes party plurality as the foundation of the political system (Article 5) and so allows the formation of different political parties, however political parties are not allowed to be established based on any discriminatory basis such as religion, race or sex.
The Constitution also sets out methods for its own amendment by the request of either the People's Assembly or the President's. Both of which have to be subjected to a public referendum
Referendum
A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of...
, after being voted for by at least two-thirds of the Assembly.
Freedoms
An entire chapter of the constitutional document is dedicated to defining the basic rights and freedoms to its citizens that is to be provided by the state.The Constitution upholds that "Individual freedom is a natural right" and regards all citizens as equals. It guarantees a set of freedoms including: The "right to protect the private life of citizens"(Article 45), "Freedom of belief and the freedom of practising religious rights" (Article 46), "Freedom of expression" (Article 47), Freedom of Press and other publications (Article 48), Freedom of Artistic and literary creations and scientific research (Article 49), Freedom of peaceful and unarmed private assembly, without the need for prior notice (Article 54), Universal suffrage, as well as the right to form civil societies (Article 55).
However, the practice of such freedoms is usually hindered by the emergency laws
Emergency law in Egypt
Emergency law in Egypt was first enacted in 1958, as Law No. 162 of 1958 and has remained in effect since 1967, except for an 18-month break in 1980...
that have been in effect for the past 3 decades.
And in order to elevate pressures from its 2-decade long usage of such laws and with the government’s plans of stopping the use of the emergency laws, a new Anti-Terrorism amendment was added to allow the provisioning of new laws that would help fight terrorism, given that these laws would not affect the basic rights of citizens especially those in Articles (41), (44), (45). This amendment in particular has been feared to be abused in the future by passing laws firmer than the emergency laws.
Executive
The executive branch is made up of the President, the Prime Minister, the cabinet of ministers and the local administration. The President is the most powerful office in the government. He appoints the Prime Minister from the party winning the majority of seats in parliament. However the President has the power to relieve the Prime Minister from office without the parliament’s approval and may also remove the cabinet of ministers but after the consultations of the prime minister.Customarily, the president is concerned with foreign policy and international relations while the Prime minister is concerned with domestic politics, economy and day-to-day operation of the government.
The President may dissolve the parliament for extraordinary reasons and must then call for new elections within 60 days.
The local Administration is made up of the governors of the 27 governorates
Governorates of Egypt
Egypt is divided for administrative purposes into 27 governorates . Egyptian governorates are the top tier of the country's five-tier jurisdiction hierarchy. A governorate is administered by a governor, who is appointed by the President of Egypt and serves at the president's discretion...
and the local councils.
Presidential order of succession
According to Article 84 of the constitution, the speaker of the People's Assembly is first in the order of successionOrder of succession
An order of succession is a formula or algorithm that determines who inherits an office upon the death, resignation, or removal of its current occupant.-Monarchies and nobility:...
to become acting President of Egypt if the president dies, becomes incapacitated or resigns. If the People's Assembly is dissolved at the time of a vacancy the President of the Supreme Constitutional Court
Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt
The Supreme Constitutional Court is an independent judiciary body in the Arab Republic of Egypt, with its new seat in the Cairo suburb of Maadi....
shall take over the Presidential duties. Within 60 days after a vacancy of the post presidential elections should be held.
Legislative
According to the constitution, the parliament is made up of two chambers: The People’s AssemblyPeople's Assembly of Egypt
The People's Assembly is the lower house of Egypt's bicameral parliament. In spite of its lower status, however, it plays a more important role in drafting legislation and day-to-day legislative duties than the Shura Council, the upper house....
, the lower house and the Shura Council
Shura Council
The Shura Council is the upper house of Egyptian bicameral Parliament. Its name roughly translates into English as "the Consultative Council". The lower house of parliament is the People's Assembly....
, the upper house.
The People’s Assembly may present the president for impeachment on the ground of grand treason or criminal conviction, by the agreement of one third of the People’s Assembly seats. The President is impeached by the agreement of two-thirds of the People’s Assembly. Upon the issuing of the impeachment decision, the president is relieved temporarily of his position and the prime minister takes office.
The People’s Assembly may ask the withdrawal of confidence from the Prime minister by the request of One-tenth of the total seats (46 members). The People’s Assembly may move to a vote of confidence from the government by a simply majority vote after at least 3 days from the request and a “istegwab” of the government. After the decision of withdrawing the confidence from the government has been made, the decision is moved to the president who may accept it and the government is then asked to resign or the president may re-present the case to the assembly once again, if the same decision was taken, the president is then forced to accept the decision. If the assembly reverts its decision, then this motion cannot be opened to the floor in the same parliamentary session.
Judiciary
According to the constitution, the Judiciary is an independent body and is vested with powers to oversee the practices of both the executive and legislative branches. Judges are independent and can not be taken out of office.Secular versus Islamic
The tradition of Egyptian constitutions has been secular in nature since the first modern constitution was founded in 1923. However, an amendment that differs from this tradition was passed in 1980.According to the 1980 amendment of the Constitution, Islamic law (Sharia) became the principal source of legislative rules. Such wording simply implies that any new law that is being enacted or considered for enactment should not be in contravention of any prevailing principles of Islamic law (Sharia
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
). It is worth noting that laws regulating personal status issues (marriage
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
, divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
, inheritance, etc.) are derived from Islamic norms, but penal law rules as codified in the Penal Code are entirely non-religious rules, whether they were ratified before or after the 1980 amendment. Egypt has also enacted a number of new laws to respond to contemporary standards of global economic and business reform including laws on investment, anti-money laundering, intellectual property rights, competition, consumer Protection, electronic signatures, banking, and taxation law.http://www.nyulawglobal.org/globalex/Egypt.htm#_edn2
With the apparent growing popularity of the Muslim Brotherhood
Muslim Brotherhood
The Society of the Muslim Brothers is the world's oldest and one of the largest Islamist parties, and is the largest political opposition organization in many Arab states. It was founded in 1928 in Egypt by the Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna and by the late 1940s had an...
after the 2005 parliamentary elections
Egyptian parliamentary election, 2005
The Egyptian parliamentary elections of 2005 was the scheduled three-stage elections in November and December 2005 for determining its lower house membership. The elections formed the Eighth Assembly since the adoption of the 1971 Constitution...
, the debate arose again discussing whether the state is secular or religious. The legitimacy of a religious political party is also in debate among intellectuals and politicians.
Democratic process integrity
One of the Egyptian long-standing traditions is the judicial monitoring of the elections. The amendments passed in 2007 would allow non-judiciary body members to perform the official monitoring and counting of the elections. This has sparked fears that the reason behind these amendments is the rigging of the elections which is something that had become popular in the last years.Presidential Elections
After the amendment of Article 76 in 2005 and its perceived draconian restrictions imposed on both partisan and independent presidential candidates, it was announced for reconsideration by the People's Assembly's chairman in November 2006 and was once again amended in 2007 to remove many of the restrictions.In addition, the amendments did not include a ceiling for the number of terms a president is to serve in office.
Timeline
The current constitution has had a number of amendments and phases.- 1971 – President Sadat passed a new constitution named “The Permanent Constitution of Egypt.” The country still preserved its socialist tendency in Politics and economic system.
- 1980 – President Sadat passed a few amendments; most notably passing the Islamic Law (Sharia) became the principal source of legislative rules.
- 2005 – President Mubarak asked the parliament to amend Article 76 to allow multi-candidate presidential elections. However it was seen to have imposed draconian restrictions on both partisan and independent presidential candidates.
- 2007 – President Mubarak submitted a petition to the parliament to amend a total of 34 articles as part of his party’s policies towards the democratization of the country’s politics. Other notable amendments include the move towards capitalism, the adoption of an election system combining both Party list and Single Candidate List as well as the abolishment of the country’s socialist institutions. The Egyptian parliament started the discussion on amending the bulk of proposed amendments. One-fifth of the parliament members left the parliament hall when the amendments were about to be approved. They eventually were approved in the absence of 110 members of the 454-member parliament in March 2007. On 26 March 2007, a public referendum was held and the new amendments were approved.
- 2011 – On 10 February 2011, during the 2011 Egyptian revolution2011 Egyptian revolutionThe 2011 Egyptian revolution took place following a popular uprising that began on Tuesday, 25 January 2011 and is still continuing as of November 2011. The uprising was mainly a campaign of non-violent civil resistance, which featured a series of demonstrations, marches, acts of civil...
, Former President Mubarak stated that he had requested that Articles 76, 77, 88, 93 and 189 be amended and that Article 179 be removed. Mubarak resigned the following day.- On 13 February, the military suspended the constitution.
- On 26 February, the military government of Egypt published a proposal that would to amend Articles 76, 77, 88, 93, 139, 148 and 189 and to remove Article 179. The amendments passed with 77.2% in favor of them.
- On March 30th of the same year, the constitution was effectively voided as a new provisional constitution2011 Provisional ConstitutionThe Provisional Constitution of the Arab Republic of Egypt or Constitutional Declaration of 2011 is the new provisional fundamental law of Egypt...
was passed by the custodian military council in power. The new provisional constitution was drafted to operate as a working constitution in the transitional period following the revolution, until a new one is drafted and approved.
The new provisional constitution included the most recent amendments, provisional articles defining the powers of the executive and judicial branches and paved the way for parliamentary elections in September and presidential elections in November. Additionally it directly stipulated that the formation of a new constitutional drafting committee to write a new constitution. http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/380532
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/03/30/egypt.constitution/index.html
External links
- Egypt Constitution at the official Egyptian government site (English language)
- Global Integrity Report: Egypt has analysis of anti-corruption measures in Egypt's constitution.
- The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights Report
- NDP Article on the amendment of Article 76 on the Presidential Elections
- Overview of the Egyptian Legal System
- Comparison of the articles before and after the amendments- Arabic Document
- Egypt: A permanent emergency?
- The Egyptian People's Assembly