Amending Egypt's constitution for multi-party system

Egypt's President reiterated commitment to the aspects of constitutional reform which he put forward in his platform last year, saying that the role of political parties in the political life is essential.

The President said that he has no objection to the introduction of amendments into article No. 76 of the constitution in order to enhance chances of the parties competing in the presidential elections.

The United National Development program gives a brief history of the amendment saying "article 76 of the constitution which stipulates that the president of Egypt is chosen by referendum over one person nominated by two thirds majority of the People's Assembly. Mubarak's suggested amendment calls for direct popular presidential elections with more than one candidate. President Mubarak rejected the demand of the political opposition to limit the number of terms a president may serve. On May 8, the Shoura Assembly approved the amendment requested by President Mubarak. On May 10, the People's Assembly followed suit after 405 deputies voted in favor, 3 abstained and 26 opposition deputies, including Muslim Brothers deputies, left the hall when voting began. A public referendum approved the amendment by 82.86% of votes cast by 17 million citizens who represent 53.64% of eligible voters. On May 27 President Mubarak approved the constitutional amendment, and the Higher Constitutional Court decided on July 2, 2005 that amendments introduced to the presidential elections Law were consistent with the constitution. The Egyptian opposition calls for several reform measures including reducing the constitutional powers of the President and guaranteeing free elections and the freedom to form political parties."

It adds "The president and the People’s Assembly, by one-third of its members, may propose amendments to the articles of the constitution. The Assembly discusses and approves amendments by a two-thirds majority. The amendments must be referred to the people for a plebiscite."

Al-Ahram reported in May this year that "Stung by the arrest of 28 of their members, MPs from the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group took the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) to task during two days of parliamentary hearings about amending Article 76 of the constitution to allow multi-candidate presidential elections. The Brotherhood's parliamentary speaker, Mohamed Mursi, said the amendment would not bear fruit as long as security forces use the emergency law to round up and marginalise political activists and political forces. For the amendment to be meaningful, Mursi said,'we need a radical change in the mentality of the regime.'"

Al-Ahram had reported that "The Brotherhood's view is that presidential hopefuls should have to obtain the direct support of 20,000 registered voters. "This is far better than 10 per cent of MPs in parliament," Mursi said. There is a total of 620 elected MPs in both the People's Assembly and Shura Council. "With no more than 34 opposition and independent MPs in the People's Assembly and six in the Shura Council, it will be impossible for independent presidential hopefuls to obtain the quorum required by the NDP."

Following President Mubarak's meeting with the the members of the Parliamentary Body of the National Democratic Party (NDP) at International Conference Centre in Nassr City, Ambassador Suleiman Awwad, the Presidential Spokesman said that President Mubarak spoke about the upcoming important People's Assembly session which will tackle the constitutional amendments put forward by the President last year.

Ambassador Awwad said that the President denied rumors on dissolving the People's Assembly before the end of parliamentary session.

Ambassador Awwad said that during the meeting, President Mubarak reviewed the political and parliamentary issues and answered questions by the members of the NDP Parliamentary Body.