US embassy cable - 05CAIRO4961

UNCLAS CAIRO 004961 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
NSC STAFF FOR POUNDS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, KDEM, PHUM, EG 
SUBJECT: EGYPT: PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS LAW UNCONSTITUTIONAL 
 
 
Sensitive but Unclassified.  Please protect accordingly. 
 
1. (SBU) Summary: Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court issued 
an advisory opinion June 29 stating that five articles of the 
new Presidential Elections Law, passed by parliament on June 
16 but not yet ratified by the President or published, are 
unconstitutional.  The Speaker of the People's Assembly 
considers the opinion binding and affirmed that the 
parliament would have to revise the articles in question (and 
presumably send the law back to the court for further 
scrutiny) before it can be sent to the President for 
signature and publication.  This development could delay 
President Mubarak's anticipated announcement of his intention 
to stand for another term and could also push back the date 
(still not fixed) of Egypt's first direct, competitive 
presidential election.  Most observers agree that the 
election must be held by the first week of October, as 
prescribed by the constitution.  End summary. 
 
2. (SBU) Egyptian State TV announced on the afternoon of June 
29 that People's Assembly Speaker Fathy Surour had received a 
memorandum from the Supreme Constitutional Court advising him 
that five articles in the presidential elections law, passed 
by parliament on June 16, are unconstitutional and adding 
that two other articles are of questionable 
constitutionality.  Surour reportedly confirmed that he 
considers the court's memorandum binding and that Parliament 
will have to revise these articles before sending the law on 
to the President for ratification and publication. 
 
3. (SBU) The articles cited by the court reportedly include 
those dealing with the composition of the presidential 
elections commission, limits imposed on campaign ads, the 
stiffened penalties for those found to obstruct campaigning 
and voting, and the stiffened penalties for persons who cast 
fraudulent votes. 
 
4. (SBU) Nasser Amin, director of the Center for the 
Independence of the Arab Judiciary and a prominent organizer 
in domestic election monitoring efforts told us he was 
surprised by the ruling and, as a lawyer, had difficulty 
seeing at first glance what aspects of the articles cited by 
the court might be considered unconstitutional. 
 
5. (SBU) The Constitutional Court's issuance of an advisory 
opinion on laws passed by parliament (but not yet ratified by 
the president and published) is not a mandatory feature of 
the Egyptian legislative process.  The court's advisory 
opinion is also not binding - it is up to the parliament 
whether to take the court's views into account.  In this 
case, since the law spells out the modalities for the 
election of the President, the GOE apparently determined that 
it could not risk the possibility that the court might later 
strike down the law as unconstitutional and thus unseat any 
president elected within its framework. 
 
6. (SBU) Comment: This development could delay President 
Mubarak's expected announcement of his intention to stand for 
another term, and could also push back the date of the next 
presidential election.  No election date has been fixed but 
it was expected to be held in mid-September.  The 
constitution stipulates that the election can be held no 
later than six years after the President last took the oath 
of office - in this case the first week of October.  End 
comment. 
 
 
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CORBIN