Absolute Power: Morsi Decree Stuns Egyptians
President Mohammed Morsi has assumed extensive new powers, testing Egypt’s fragile democracy, Bassem Sabry writes from Cairo.
Early this morning, rumors began to float within Egypt’s political scene that President Mohammed Morsi was about to issue some quite radical decisions. A few hours later, a group of Muslim Brotherhood members began amassing at Egypt’s Supreme House Of The Judiciary to apparently show support for the soon-to-be disclosed decisions. We all knew something controversial was about to happen, and some had decent guesses. We just had no idea how controversial it was going to be.
Around 7 p.m. Cairo time, the presidential spokesman finally appeared on television to shatter the anticipation: The president has become the omnipotent leader of Egypt.
President Mohammed Morsi has released a constitutional declaration granting himself — most controversially — the powers to issue any decision or law without any alternative authority in the country having the power to oppose or revoke it. The president has also granted himself the right to use all “necessary procedures and measures” needed to confront — prepare for a very vague statement — a “danger threatening the Jan. 25 revolution, the life of the nation, national unity, safety of the nation, or hurdling the state institutions in performing their roles” — which appears to indicate a wide range standby emergency powers at the hands of the presidency.
Morsi has also stipulated that no authority can dissolve the existing Shura Council (the remaining Upper House of Parliament, as the lower house has already been dissolved by court order over the constitutionality of the electoral law) or the Constituent Assembly tasked with writing the constitution. In doing so, he has preempted the judiciary that was due to issue verdicts on the cases for the dissolution of both assemblies, with both likely verdicts being dissolution. This decision was even criticised by recently-resigned former constituent assembly members, such as former Arab League chief and presidential candidate Amr Moussa as well as the head of the April 6 youth movement, Ahmed Maher, people who have believed in giving this assembly a veritable chance and were not opposed to it in principle as other opposition forces have been.
