{"id":7223,"date":"2019-02-06T12:25:05","date_gmt":"2019-02-06T04:25:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=7223"},"modified":"2019-02-12T07:54:15","modified_gmt":"2019-02-11T23:54:15","slug":"egypt-mps-to-vote-on-extending-presidential-term-limits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=7223","title":{"rendered":"Egypt: MPs To Vote On Extending Presidential Term Limits"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

 CAIRO, Feb 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) —<\/strong>An Egyptian parliamentary committee has given initial approval to a proposal to amend the constitution in a way that would extend President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi’s time in office, state media say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sisi is due to stand down in 2022, when his second four-year term ends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But a proposal from the majority bloc in parliament would lengthen future presidential terms to six years and let Sisi stand for another two terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If approved by two-thirds of MPs, the changes would be put to a referendum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2013, Sisi led the military’s overthrow of Egypt’s first democratically elected president, Mohammed Morsi, following protests against his rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then, he has overseen what human rights groups say is an unprecedented crackdown on dissent that has led to the detention of tens of thousands of people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Photo courtesy President Twiiter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sisi was re-elected last April after winning 97% of the vote. He faced no serious competition because several potential rivals dropped out or were arrested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Article 140 of Egypt’s constitution, which was approved in a referendum in 2014, currently states that the president serves four-year terms and may only be re-elected once.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As well as lengthening terms to six years, the amendment submitted on Sunday by the pro-government Support Egypt Coalition would allow Sisi to serve an additional two terms after his current one ends, according to a copy posted on Facebook by one MP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That would potentially allow the 64-year-old to stay in power until 2034.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abdul Hadi al-Qudbi of the Support Egypt Coalition said it had acted “with a view of maintaining stability and continuing [Egypt’s] developmental strategy”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Tuesday, state-run Nile News TV quoted parliamentary Speaker Ali Abdul Aal as saying that the amendment had been approved by the General Committee after “fulfilling the required constitutional conditions”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The committee also approved other amendments that would create the post of vice-president, reintroduce a second chamber of parliament, and strengthen the representation of women, Coptic Christians and disabled people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 596-seat parliament is overwhelmingly supportive of Sisi, but a small group of leftist MPs denounced the proposals, saying they would cancel out the principal gain of the 2011 popular uprising that ousted longtime President Hosni Mubarak. — NNN-AGENCIES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

 CAIRO, Feb 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) —An Egyptian parliamentary committee has given initial approval to a proposal to amend the constitution in a way that would extend President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi’s time in office, state media say. Sisi is due to stand down in 2022, when his second four-year term ends. But a proposal from the majority bloc […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":7229,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[217],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7223"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7223\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}