The “Support Egypt” political bureau parliament coalition announced Saturday that it would submit a bill to Parliament Speaker Ali Abdel Aal on Sunday to amend the Egyptian constitution.
The proposed constitutional amendments include the creation of a senate, a second chamber for parliament, a woman quota in the parliament no less than 25 percent of the members, the maintenance of youth and special percentages, the appropriate representation of workers, farmers, youth and Copts and the appointment of one or more deputies to the President.
“Support Egypt” is a pro-government parliamentary coalition that controls a majority of 350 seats in the House of Representatives.
Coalition head Abdel Hadi al-Qasabi said that the proposed amendments come within a framework to preserve the gains of the 2014 Constitution, seeking to confirm them through new guarantees to increase freedom.
“The Constitutional Committee confirmed the MPs right to apply to amend any article of the Constitution; guaranteed by Article 226 of the Constitution which granted this jurisdiction – the proposal to amend the Constitution – to the President, and one fifth of the members of the House of Representatives,” Qasabi said in a statement on Saturday.
Head of the “Support Egypt” coalition said that the right to approve the new constitutional amendments is only for the Egyptian people, pointing out that the proposed amendment will be submitted to the Parliament Speaker to be presented to the House of Representatives in accordance with mechanisms established by the Constitution and the law.
Qasabi announced on Saturday night that his coalition collected the signatures of one fifth of the MPs on the request to amend the constitution during a meeting for the coalition.
According to article 226 of the Egyptian institution: “The amendment of one or more articles of the Constitution may be requested by the President of the Republic or one-fifth of the members of the House of Representatives. The request shall specify the articles requested to be amended and the reasons for such amendment.
In all cases, the House of Representatives shall discuss the amendment request within 30 days from the date of its receipt. The House shall issue its decision to accept the request in whole or in part by a majority of its members. If the request is rejected, the same articles may not be requested to be amended again before the next legislative term.”
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
