Despite some members' calls to dissolve the Advisory Council to the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, the advisory board announced Tuesday after its weekly meeting that it would remain in office until power is transferred to an elected president.
“The majority of members rejected the dissolution of the Advisory Council as Sameh Ashour, deputy head of the council, suggested,“ Osama Borhan, the council’s secretary general, said in a press conference Tuesday evening, noting that Ashour announced his resignation before the weekly meeting.
Borhan said Ashour believed the functions of the Advisory Council should have ended after the Parliament's upper house, the Shura Council, was elected.
The role of the council is limited to advising military rulers to help them run the country during the transitional period, while the Shura Council and People’s Assembly have legislative power and monitoring roles, Borhan said.
Ashour, who is also president of the Lawyers Syndicate, told Al-Masry Al-Youm on Monday that Advisory Council head Mansour Hassan and a majority of council members supported dissolving the body, but that the decision had yet to be issued formally.
The SCAF formed the council in December, but its numbers have shrunk from 30 to 18 as members resigned in protest of the military's decisions and use of violence to supress protests.
The ruling generals have pledged to hand over power to an elected president by the end of June.
Hassan, a veteran Egyptian politician close to the country's military rulers and the powerful Muslim Brotherhood, announced on Wednesday he would run in the presidential election set to begin on 23 May.
Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm
