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Saturday, February 5, 2011

OH-OH....has anyone looked at the Egyptian Constitution?


There might be a slight problem (on top of many other problems!) According to the NY Times tonight, the Obama administration is trying to work on a deal where President Mubarak steps down (permanently, not temporarily) and the new Vice President heads the transitional government.

I decided to do a little research and came across this interpretation of the Egyptian Constitution by The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Below is what the website says is the Constitution of Egypts plan for replacing a President if he can't fulfill the term. There is, per the below, a big difference between a temporary and a permanent disability from office. I am assuming the website has the Egyptian Constitution correct.
Under their Constitution, if a President's departure is temporary - the President will be back - then the President can deputize a VP or Prime Minister.
The USA has its eyes on the current VP (Omar Suleiman) to become the head of the transitional government. Note, however, Mubarak's departure can not be characterized as "temporary." He is not coming back!
If his departure from the Presidency is permanent (which this one is), then the Egyptian people, according to the Constitution, should be looking to the speaker of the People's Assembly to assume the presidency and an election must be held within 60 days. See below.
I suppose some people think it would be ok to ignore the Constitution (I don't) but that could be a big problem with those Egyptians who are not wild about VP Suleiman taking over even if just a transitional government. Perhaps there is another interpretation or clause in the Constitution which would make the VP the correct choice?
So now what?

"...Should the president die or become permanently disabled while in office, the speaker of the People’s Assembly temporarily assumes the presidency. A new election must be held within 60 days. If the president becomes temporarily unable to carry out the functions of his office temporarily, he may deputize a vice president or the prime minister to do so..."

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