A new Rais for Egypt? Maybe not...

"Morsi today usurped all state powers and appointed himself Egypt's new pharaon" Mohamed El Baradei (as I already admitted, one of my heroes).

The text (via Al Ahram)

Article I:
Reopen the investigations and prosecutions in the cases of the murder, the attempted murder and the wounding of protesters as well as the crimes of terror committed against the revolutionaries by anyone who held a political or executive position under the former regime, according to the Law of the Protection of the Revolution and other laws.

Article II:

Previous constitutional declarations, laws, and decrees made by the president since he took office on 30 June 2012, until the constitution is approved and a new People’s Assembly [lower house of parliament] is elected, are final and binding and cannot be appealed by any way or to any entity. Nor shall they be suspended or canceled and all lawsuits related to them and brought before any judicial body against these decisions are annulled.

Article III:

The prosecutor-general is to be appointed from among the members of the judiciary by the President of the Republic for a period of four years commencing from the date of office and is subject to the general conditions of being appointed as a judge and should not be under the age of 40. This provision applies to the one currently holding the position with immediate effect.

Article IV:

The text of the article on the formation of the Constituent Assembly in the 30 March 2011 Constitutional Declaration that reads, "it shall prepare a draft of a new constitution in a period of six months from the date it was formed” is to be amended to "it shall prepare the draft of a new constitution for the country no later than eight months from the date of its formation."

Article V:

No judicial body can dissolve the Shura Council [upper house of parliament] or the Constituent Assembly.

Article VI:

The President may take the necessary actions and measures to protect the country and the goals of the revolution.

Article VII:

This Constitutional Declaration is valid from the date of its publication in the official gazette.

Comments

What about Lebanon?

I would never dare to think I have enough knowledge so as to freely talk about this issue and produce a meaningful article, but I will try to write down what I have understood so far (I already had to edit as I misunderstood some facts, thanks Louis!). Lebanon and Syria have always been deeply interconnected. Both countries were part of the Ottoman Empire, both countries were under the dominance of France's colonization, both countries share an extremely complicated ethnic/religious division, and both countries political scenes still depend on the other's. More recently, Syria was a key player in the brokering of the 1989 Taif Accords putting an end to Lebanon's civil war, and its troops (and many authorities) stayed in the country (allegedly guaranteeing the non resumption of violence) until 2005, when the country's population unanimously demanded their retreat. It all started in Tripoli, Lebanon's second largest city, next to the country's northern borde...

Palestina: hoja de ruta, callejón sin salida

El 13 de septiembre se cumplió el vigésimosegundo aniversario de la firma de los Acuerdos de Oslo , texto que marcó un antes y un después en el conflicto entre Israel y Palestina . Para los israelíes, los acuerdos tenían por objeto garantizar a su población un cierto grado de seguridad, así como un socio con el que compartir mesa de negociación cada cierto tiempo. En el caso de los palestinos, los acuerdos fueron diseñados para proporcionarles un cierto margen de libertad política y económica y un horizonte de autogobierno.

El claro ganador de las presidenciales en Siria – y que no debería sorprendernos en exceso

Lo que al principio parecía una broma pesada se ha convertido en una realidad ineludible: Siria celebrará elecciones presidenciales el próximo 3 de junio, y todo apunta a que Bashar Al Assad está en posición de declararse vencedor de las mismas. La única pregunta es ahora con qué margen . Independientemente de la utilidad de debates bizantinos sobre si estos comicios deberían tener lugar o no, lo cierto es que no resulta tan descabellado a día de hoy comparar, aunque salvando las distancias, los escenarios electorales en Siria y Egipto. A pesar de que ambos régimenes son perfectamente capaces de manipular los resultados, esto no será necesario, ya que una mayoría considerable de la población se muestra favorable a que un hombre fuerte siga dominando un país que aún se enfrenta a numerosas amenazas. Cartel electoral en Latakia / Foto: Flickr

Discovering MENA and other thoughts

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