Sisi came to power in June 2014, one year after he led the military to oust the
first democratically-elected president Mohamed Morsi in a coup.
In recent months, speculation has been building that Sisi's supporters would
seek to amend the constitution so that he can stay in power once his second term
ends in 2022.
The proposed amendments were submitted on Sunday to the speaker of parliament,
which is overwhelmingly supportive of Sisi. Any changes require approval by
two-thirds of parliament members, followed by a referendum.
The changes include an extension of the presidential term from four years to six
years in Article 40, and a "transitional" clause that would potentially allow
Sisi to stay in power until 2034.
"After the expiry of his current term, the President of the Republic may run
again in accordance to the amended Article 140," the draft clause says.
Sisi's supporters argue that an extension of his rule is necessary to allow him
more time to complete economic development plans and ensure Egypt's stability.
"He is doing a lot of projects and people are fighting him from all sides," said
Ayman Abdel Hakim, a lawyer who filed a court case along with 300 Sisi
supporters in December.
They have forced the parliament to debate amending Article 140 of the
Constitution that bars Sisi from running for a third term in 2022.
A 16-member leftist bloc in parliament held a press conference on Monday to
condemn the proposed changes, saying they abolished the principal gain of the
January 25, 2011 uprising, the changeover of civilian power.
One leftist lawmaker, Haitham al-Hariri, slammed the proposals as a "coup
against the Egyptian constitution."
"We were naive to think that they would only extend the presidential term
limits," he said, referring to the plan to give the president new powers.
The proposed amendments also give the president new powers over appointing
judges and the public prosecutor.
They also include adding a second parliamentary chamber known as the Council of
Senators, in which the president would appoint one-third of the 250 members.
Some Egyptians have been angered by the draft amendments. They have taken to
social media to slam the proposals.
The hashtag "No to changing the constitution" was the top trending topic on
Twitter late on Sunday, with more than 26,000 tweets.
"The proposed amendments don't come as a surprise, they are a continuation of
what we have seen ever since Sisi came to power, or a continued expansion of his
powers as well as consolidation of that power," Timothy Kaldas of the Tahrir
Institute for Middle East Policy said.
Human rights groups have regularly criticized Sisi's government for cracking
down on opposition activists and supporters of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood
movement, which has been banned in the country.
Last month, Amnesty International warned that Egyptians were facing an
unprecedented crackdown on freedom of expression under Sisi's administration,
saying the North African state had turned into an "open-air prison" for
dissidents.
Source:PressTV