In Sunday’s newspaper issues, Egyptian columnists continued to write about French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent remarks on Egypt’s human rights record. A few others provided their views on the anticipated amendments of Egypt’s 2014 Constitution, which are expected to include article No 140, extending the presidential term from a four-year to a six-year term.
Late Saturday, one fifth of parliament members presented a petition to the Parliament Speaker, Ali Abdel Aal, to make some amendments to the constitution, according to MP Mahmoud Badr.
In Al-Masry Al-Youm, Emad Gad wrote that the constitution is a social contract, not a sacred text, so it should be changed if there was a deficiency or miscalculation.
Gad argued that amending constitutions is a normal and repeated process in the world, referring to the multiple amendments to the US Constitution since 1787.
Gad demonstrated that the vast majority of countries have made changes to their constitutions, noting that new ones are usually written during revolution time or instability, so they may be changed later.
In the private newspaper Al-Youm Al-Sabaa, Ahmed Selim pinned that Egypt will be only re-established by its citizens, agreeing with President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi’s statement that “Egypt will not be built by bloggers,” but by its citizens’ efforts.
Selim added that blogging and tweets would not defend the country, stressing that if the government followed those people’s writings, Egypt would still lack security and stability.
Mohamed Hassan Al-Banna of the state-run Al-Akhbar also commented on Macron’s visit, describing it as “successful,” though “some wrongdoings” occured during the visit.
Al-Banna referred to Macron’s statement on Egypt’s human rights record, which he believes did not take into consideration the security challenges in the region.
Also, Galal Dowidar of Al-Akhbar asserted that Al-Sisi came to power supported by the people’s will, as people took to the streets on 30 June 2013 in order to overthrow the Muslim Brotherhood’s rule.
Dowidar argued that the Egyptians sought Al-Sisi and the armed forces’ help to protect the state from the Brotherhood.
Meanwhile, Makram Mohamed Ahmed wrote in the state-owned Al-Ahram that the Egyptians will never allow the Brotherhood to return to power, noting that some groups’ attempts to break out a new revolution would not succeed as Egyptians are standing together now to maintain the stability of their country.
