CAIRO (AA) – Interim Egyptian President Adly Mansour is expected to issue a constitutional declaration within maximally two days, if not earlier, official sources told Anadolu Agency Thursday.
The declaration, already approved by the armed forces command, will solve the Islamists-dominated Shura Council, the upper house of parliament which now has the legislative authority, said the sources.
Mansour, who was sworn in earlier today under an army roadmap which ousted Mohammad Morsi, will keep the legislative authority for himself.
The declaration will stipulate the formation of a special panel to work on amending the constitution temporarily suspend by the army.
The panel will have three months to agree on the amendments from the day of its formation and the proposed amendments would be put to a popular referendum.
Parliamentary and presidential elections, to be fully supervised by the judiciary, will not be held before amending the constitution.
Mansour’s constitutional declaration will stipulate forming a government of technocrats with wide authorities.
The sources said the declaration will not name Mansour as supreme commander of the armed force, a post automatically head by the president of Egypt.
The interim phase outlined in the constitutional declaration is expected to take no less than a year and half, according to the sources.
New Egypt….interim president, security crackdown
The first day after the ouster of Egypt’s first democratically elected president saw a new interim president being sworn in and a massive security crackdown on the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, its Freedom and Justice Party and media mouthpieces.
Under a roadmap announced by the powerful military establishment a day earlier, Constitutional Court head Adly Mansour took the oath earlier Thursday as interim president.
His immediate task includes forming a coalition government of technocrats and holding early presidential elections.
The army roadmap includes temporarily suspending the constitution and preparing for early presidential elections.
The 68-year-old interim president has started consultations to choose a prime minister and a coalition government of technocrats.
Mohammad ElBaradei, the leader of the umbrella opposition National Salvation Front (NSF), is one of several names being floated as a possible premier choice.
Other potential candidates include renowned surgeon and NSF figure Mohammad Ghoneim, former central bank governor Farouk El Okdah and international law professor Hossam Issa.
“I was not offered such a position (premiership) yet, but I would immediately accept it because the interim period requires collective efforts,” Issa told Anadolu Agency.
Kamal el-Ganzori, a former prime minister who served under ousted president Hosni Mubarak and under the supreme military council that ruled Egypt from February 2011 until Morsi’s election in June 2012, is also a possibility.
-Crackdown-
While the nation was busy with the new interim president’s swearing-in, the security forces were chasing down senior leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood and its FJP.
Morsi, who is under house arrest, and several leading figures of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Wasat Party were placed on travel ban lists.
Security forces rounded up Muslim Brotherhood supreme leader Mohammad Badei and his predecessor Mahdi Akef.
Warrant arrests were issued for Badei’s deputy Khairat el-Shater and all members of the Brotherhood’s guidance office on charges of inciting violence.
Former parliament speaker Saad el-Katatni, the FJP chairman, was detained Wednesday and is now being held at Tora prison.
Security forces are reportedly chasing down FJP vice chairman Essam el-Aryan and senior figure Mohammad el-Beltagui.
The crackdown came shortly after Defense Minister Abdel Fatah El Sisi announced the army’s roadmap for the future of Egypt.
Several TV channels supportive of the deposed president were immediately shut down and their staff were arrested, measures which Amnesty International branded as “a blow to freedom of expression.”
