Egypt’s Interim President To Address Nation, Likely Determine Next Election Cycle

Egypt’s interim President Adly Mansour will address the nation on Sunday at 8 pm (CLT), justifiably to congratulate the voters who turned out to endorse the newly-amended constitution last week. But some say that he will answer a more pressing question: whether presidential or parliamentarian elections will come next.

Many say that placing presidential elections before parliamentary ones would open the door for Egypt’s top military leader General Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi to run for, and likely win, the presidency.

It is up to Mansour to handle the decision over which election will follow the referendum, said Ali Saleh, presidential advisor for constitutional affairs, speaking to Al-Ahram’s Arabic news website.

Saleh cited constitutional article 230, which states that the interim president should handle the decision.

“There is now no specific road map,” Saleh said.

He said that regardless of which elections occur first, they must start within six months of the ratification of the constitution.

On Saturday, the Supreme Electoral Committee announced that the newly-drafted constitution had been approved by 98.1 percent of voters, with a 38.6 percent voter turnout.

Egypt has been operating by decree since the July ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi. The interim government which assumed power has since laid out a transitional map to democracy, with the successful constitutional referendum billed as the first step.

Source : Ahram