The Administrative Court, headed by Judge Mohamed Keshta, decided on Tuesday to postpone issuing the verdict on the validity of the Constituent Assembly to next Tuesday, 8 October.
Six lawsuits have been filed regarding the assembly’s validity, one of them being filed by Al-Faraeen Satellite Channel owner and media personality Tawfik Okasha, the court is expected to issue a verdict regarding the six cases on its next session on 8 October.
The bases of these lawsuits are that the formation of the assembly does not agree with the constitutional decree. Article 29 in the constitutional decree states that the assembly members must represent all sections of society, a condition which, according to the lawsuits, has not been fulfilled in the assembly’s current formation.
The current Constituent Assembly is the third to be formed since 25 January Revolution, the first having been dissolved when the Supreme Constitutional Court deemed it unconstitutional. According to the March 2011 constitutional decree issued by the SCAF, parliament members can elect the members of the assembly, but cannot nominate themselves for membership.
The second assembly, which was formed in light of an agreement between political powers to form a more “balanced” assembly on 7 June 2012, was to be dissolved by ousted president Mohamed Morsi’s constitutional decree in November 2012.
