Egypt's new president to be sworn in before judiciary after parliament dissolution: SPEC head

Saturday 16 Jun 2012
Source:Ahram Online

The new president of Egypt is to take the oath of office in front of the High Constitutional Court, according to a report by Al-Ahram daily newspaper on Saturday, quoting Farouk Sultan, the of the head of the Supreme Presidential Electoral Commission (SPEC).

The constitution's provisions state that the president's swearing-in ceremony takes place before both the lower and upper houses.

However, considering the High Constitutional Court issued a verdict on Thursday dissolving the People's Assembly (lower house), the coming president will take the oath in front of a judiciary body.

"Most probably the ruling military council will issue a new Constitutional Declaration that will define the authorities of the new president and would allow the elected head of state to take the oath of office in front of the highest judiciary body, as is the case in some other countries," Sultan speculated to the Arabic-language daily paper.

According to the SPEC head, the new Constitutional Declaration will only be valid until the new constitution is drafted.

Last week the parliament elected a 100-member constituent assembly to draft the first constitution after the ouster of the 84-year-old former president Mubarak, who is now serving a life sentence in prison.

After the constitutional court verdict was issued Thursday, however, the elected assembly is considered void and the new constitution will have to wait for the fait of its drafting assembly to be defined.

Reportedly, Egypt’s ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) will form a new constituent assembly to replace the one that was dissolved. The first constituent assembly was appointed by a parliament dominated 70 per cent by Islamists; namely the Muslim Brotherhood’s political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party, and the Salafist’s Nour Party.

The first round of Egypt’s elections narrowed down the choices for president to two candidates. The runoff elections on Saturday and Sunday (16 and 17 June) will reveal whether Egypt’s new president will be Mubarak's last prime minister, Ahmed Shafiq, or the head of the FJP, Muhamed Mursi.