By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
We have another example of a parliament facilitating another eternal presidency. Egypt’s Parliament acted this week to amend the nation’s constitution to allow its current president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, to remain in power to 2034. Much of the pretext lies in the familiar call of a need for greater control and monopolization of the presidency to secure promised “reforms” and “progress”.
Amendments to the constitution include extending the term of office for the presidency from four to six years and controversially includes a reset of the term limit clause of the currently sitting president, effectively providing al-Sisi the ability to serve until 2034.
Supporters of the amendments claim that the president needs more time to complete development projects and economic reforms.
Moreover, to further cement greater control, the presidency would now wield the ability to appoint judges and the public prosecutor as well as the establishment of a second chamber of parliament–the Council of Senators–two thirds of who’s members are appointed by the president.
The next step is review by a parliamentary committee followed by a second vote by the general membership. If approved a national referendum will follow several months later.
By Darren Smith
Source: e-Kurd.net
The views expressed in this posting are the author’s alone and not those of the blog, the host, or other weekend bloggers. As an open forum, weekend bloggers post independently without pre-approval or review. Content and any displays or art are solely their decision and responsibility.
What happened to the Georgetown University, professor tweet story?
Nevermind.
And, for the second day in a row, the constitutional scholar has not written a piece defending Trump bypassing Article I of the Constitution after he failed to bully Congress into appropriating money for a wall opposed by most Americans.
That silence speaks volumes, not only about the merits of Trump’s conduct, but JT’s agenda, and I mean the latter in 2 respects: first of all, he won’t say anything seriously negative about Trump, which I assume must be for financial reasons. Faux News wouldn’t have him on again. And, secondly, by defending this blatant abuse of power, he would lose any credibility he has as a constitutional scholar, and therefore, future work, which I also assume must be for financial reasons. And people wonder why lawyers are disliked and distrusted.
The professor knows something you don’t, Natacha. Such ’emergencies’ have been declared dozens of times over the last four decades.
Absurd,…
But Natacha “knows” something the professor doesn’t know; what topics he should cover and when.😉😞😊
In fairness to her, however, she’s not the only one. Several people here know what JT “should be” writing about, and when.
I just noticed that its Darren’s fault😉….he wrote this column about Egypt when the topic “should have been” Trump declaring an emergency to get the wall funding.
I wrote the article in the hope it might evince Anonymous’ profound clairvoyance.
I don’t think that our prolific early AM clairvoyant is going to take kindly to having a competitor.😠
Not as a backup plan after losing negotiations with Congress. I’m guessing Turley wrote something in the past criticizing Obama for declaring an emergency.
Here you go from JT.
It’s pretty good but he shows some ignorance by not understanding why there is in fact a National Emergency at the southern border.
Hey JT, it’s called a Ph’in Invasion!!!! About 60,000 just last month & BP leadership sez they likely missed over 1/2.
On the matter of just Voter Fraud by illegals voting just look at just how close some of last Nov elections were……
JT: “In the matter of the border wall, Congress could not have been more clear where it was heading. It put itself on the path to institutional irrelevancy, and it has finally arrived. I do not agree there is a national emergency on the southern border, but I do believe President Trump will prevail. This crisis is not the making of Donald Trump. This is the making of Congress.”
https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/430335-why-trump-will-win-the-wall-fight
“What? Pooey fooey on those sneaky little copycats.” – J. S.
H. J. Res. 5 – Repealing 22nd Amendment bill was referred to the House Committee on Judiciary on 1/6/09 and then referred to the Subcommittee on Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties on 2/9/09.
Rep. Jose Serrano, D-N.Y. introduced H. J. Res. 5, a bill that would repeal the Constitution’s 22nd Amendment which prohibits a president from being elected to more than two terms in office, thus potentially paving the way to make Barack Obama president for life.
We have no idea what transpires there nor do we wear the scars of having lived under Morsi. Egypt, in spite of holding an honorable place in ancient history, is a mess, much like the rest of the world. Unlike many countries, Abdel Fattah Saeed Hussein Khalil El-Sisi has an impressive standing in public opinion polls, numbers that dwarves anything we see in the USA
While the idea of cementing indefinitely a political leader’s place in a nation is concerning, it is their decision to make. Worry about our own nation presently a collossal Charlie foxtrot which, ironically Americans resent when other countries tell us what to do….like El Sisi criticizing Obama and how he handled Fergusson riots.
https://ww.egyptindependent.com/haaretz-sisi-taking-revenge-us-interference
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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdel_Fattah_el-Sisi
An April 2016 poll by Baseera after 22 months in office, indicated that Sisi garnered 79% approval rating while 8% were undecided and 13% disapprove of the president’s performance. These numbers indicate a moderate drop from the last poll done in 2014.[135]
In October 2016, Baseera conducted a poll that reports 68% of respondents claim to support Sisi,[136] a 14% fall from the last poll created in August,[137] and it included that the reason for the fall was the ongoing price hikes.
A strange study would be the structure of power in Iran…Supreme Leader
On the surface, the U.S. and Iranian governments have much in common: a president who is popularly elected, a boisterous legislature, and a powerful judiciary. The obvious difference lies in the fact that Iran is an Islamic theocracy, and that one man, the Supreme Leader, exerts ideological and political control over a system dominated by clerics who shadow every major function of the state.
The Supreme Leader’s sphere of power is extended through his representatives, an estimated 2,000 of whom are sprinkled throughout all sectors of the government and who serve as the Leader’s clerical field operatives. In some respects the Supreme Leader’s representatives are more powerful than the president’s ministers and have the authority to intervene in any matter of state on the Supreme Leader’s behalf.
Hugo Chavez was freely elected in Venezuela. Then he fixed it so he couldn’t be freely unelected.
Regrettable. The thing is, the Egyptian public had their chance to restore parliamentary institutions, and they blew it by putting Mohammed Morsi and his clown-car posse in office. A military autocrat provides for Egypt the best approximation of order and justice you can have in Egypt, and is just what they deserve.
Giving al-Sisi power until 2034 is one thing, but the real trick is surviving to reach 2034.
Darren,
I see the concerns, but …
I’m not Russian but from what little I know if I were Russian I could see leaving someone like Putin in control for extra years.
Here in the US I’d wondered about a prez term of no more then 2 six year terms?
Oky1
Please. Don’t give Donald any ideas.