Egypt: paving the way for General al-Sisi’s presidency?
Egypt’s political roadmap is altered so that the president will be elected before parliament is. It hastens the likely election of army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as head of state.
Interim President Adly Mansour announced on Sunday that presidential elections will come before parliamentary ones – a move that opponents say risks creating a president with unchecked power.
If, as expected, such elections result in General al-Sisi becoming head of state, it will end the brief period in Egypt’s political history where a non-military man was the head of state.
The military took the reins of power from Mohammed Mursi, the democratically-elected Muslim Brotherhood president, in a military coup in July last year.
“I have taken my decision to amend the roadmap for the future in that we will start by holding the presidential elections first followed by the parliamentary elections,” Interim President Mansour said in a televised speech.
Supporters of such a change say that Egypt needs a democratically-elected leader first, in order to direct the government in a time of economic and political crisis.
Anniversary violence
The announcement follows the third anniversary of the revolution that led to the ousting of Egypt’s previous military leader – Hosni Mubarak.
Military sources said 49 people were killed in clashes between police and anti-government protesters on Saturday. In the bloodiest incident, security forces fired live rounds on Muslim Brotherhood supporters as they tried to set up a sit-in Cairo’s Alf Maskan district.
The military said 23 people died in the incident, 22 from by bullet wounds, and that they were included in the official death toll of 49.
On Sunday gunmen killed three Egyptian soldiers in the turbulent Sinai regions. The area has seen an increase in attacks on the military by Islamist militant groups.
On Saturday five soldiers were killed on when an army helicopter crashed in the north of the peninsula in an operation against militants. Security sources said it was a missile attack, without giving further details.
Militant group Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (Supporters of Jerusalem) claimed responsibility for the alleged rocket attack.
The military blames the Muslim Brotherhood for violence across the country, and said that the group faces “elimination”.
In a statement on Facebook, the army said: “We assure the Egyptian people of the great determination of its men to fight black terrorism and the complete elimination of the advocates of oppression and sedition and blasphemy from followers of the Muslim Brotherhood.”