The first draft of Egypt’s amended Constitution may be finalized in the middle of October

Egyptian Constitution 

Amr Moussa, the chairman of Egypt’s 50-members Constitutional Committee entrusted with the amendment of 2012 Constitution issued during the rule of Mohamed Morsy, stated that the first draft of the amended national charter could be finalized till the middle of October, before the Muslim holiday Eid Al-Adha, which will be celebrated on 14 October.

The sub-committees tasked with the amending and rewriting of the separated chapters of the Constitution have prepared the proposed drafts of nearly half of the articles and the discussions regarding the remaining ones continue.

There are also some controversial articles in the suspended 2012 Constitution, but the talks regarding them and work of the commission are ongoing and the consensus could be possibly reached, according to the representatives of the Constitutional committee.

Thus the first draft of the amended Constitution is expected to be ready till 14 October, and then it will be sent to the committee in order to discuss it and make further amendments and changes if needed. On the next stage the committee may issue the final draft of the Constitution which will put on the national referendum.

It’s also worth mentioning that during the process of amending the 2012 Constitution a lot of fundamental and basic articles and principles of the 2012 Constitution have been changed, so the members of the committee stated that the Constitution should be rather rewritten than amended.

The Constitutional Committee made a request addressed to Egypt’s Interim President Adly Mansour to issue an addendum added to the Constitutional Declaration, issued by Adly Mansour on 8 July, right after ouster of Egypt’s Islamist backed President Mohamed Morsy. 

Amr Moussa, chairman of Egypt's Constitutional Committee

This Constitutional Declaration contains the political roadmap for the nearest future of Egypt and the transitional period and includes the chapters regarding the suspension of 2012 Constitution issued by Muslim Brotherhood dominated Constituent Assembly and amending of it. Special 50-memebers committee was formed in order to fulfill this task. The draft of the amended Constitution should be finalized within two months.

The request of the members of the committee proposes to specify in the Declaration that the Constitution should be rather rewritten than amended.

Mohamed Salmawi, head of the 50-member Constitutional Committee has declared on Thursday, 26 September, that the addendum to the Constitutional Declaration of Adly Mansour will be probably added and the special committee was formed in order to study the matter and the ways of implementing it.