Following the State Council’s controversial decision to nominate only the first vice-premier of the State Council, Yehia Dakroury, to head the council, only two scenarios are left for the presidency, according to legal experts.
During the State Council general assembly on Saturday, it only listed one candidate to head the council, instead of selecting three, as stipulated in the new amendment for the Judicial Authority Law.
The president currently has two options: either accept the State Council’s decision or choose another one of the seven most senior judges in the council, prominent lawyer Essam El-Eslamboly told Daily News Egypt.
The interviewed legal experts did not regarding the council’s decision as a violation of the new law, but a victory for the Constitution that grants independency to the judiciary.
El-Eslamboly said the decision was a victory for the Constitution, and he supports it.
Social media users also showed support for Dakroury and launched a hashtag on Twitter, expressing their approval for it.
Eslam Tawfik, a judge in the State Council, denied claims that the State Council violated the amendment, telling to Daily News Egypt that the situation aligns with the Constitution.
He explained that the law says if the council did not choose three names as stipulated, then the president can choose one of the seven oldest.
This implies that the president can decide on another nominee to head the council.
The general assembly was not taking a stance against state, but rather an announcement of the council’s best nominee among all its senior judges.
Vice premier of the State Council and member in the general assembly Mohamed Abdel Wahab said that the council’s stance is not aiming at provoking any conflict with the state, it just came based on the council’s conviction regarding the principle of seniority.
When asked if the president selected another candidate and not Dakroury, he said that the council will respond to the president’s final decision.
Other judicial bodies said that are working under the new law, including the Administrative Prosecution and the State Commissioner Authority, have sent three nominees to the presidency as stipulated by the new law.
The aforementioned bodies have previously expressed their rejection of the new law, but respected the government’s amendments.
A new law that was ratified by President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi in late April says that the president is the one who will decide on the heads of Egypt’s judicial bodies after receiving a list of three nominees from each body.
In case each body did not nominate three of its senior judges, then the president has the right to decide the head from the seven senior judges in the council, in accordance with Law 13 of 2017.
Dakroury became widely-known following his ruling on 16 January, annulling the Egyptian-Saudi demarcation agreement to transfer sovereignty of the islands of Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia, as the judge confirmed Egyptian sovereignty over the islands.
