The Constituent Assembly has decided withhold from the president the power to direct the appointment of the prosecutor general.
In a statement released on Thursday on its Twitter account, the assembly announced that the prosecutor general will be chosen by the Supreme Judiciary Council from the president of the Deputies Cassation Court, Court of Appeal judges, or the assistants to the prosecutor general.
The president will be obliged to ratify the Supreme Judiciary Council’s choice and issue a decision appointing the prosecutor general for a non-renewable four-year-term.
The assembly also announced a ban on then detainment of journalists for “publishing crimes” (e.g. libel), describing the decision as “a positive shift in freedoms and rights”
The assembly’s spokesman Mohamed Salmawy told Aswat Masriya that the assembly had also amended articles concerned with appointing the prime minister.
“The president will choose the prime minister after talks with the parliamentary majority,” Salmawy said.
If the prime minister is not agreed upon by the parliament in 30-day-period, the majority will nominate another name.
“If the parliament does not agree to the second name” within 60 days, Salmawy explained, “it will be dissolved and the president will call for early elections.”
The assembly stirred recent controversy when it ratified articles empowering the armed forces, which, according to constitutional expert Ra’fat Fouda, “make Egypt’s system of governance lean towards military systems similar Turkey’s during the time of Kemal Ataturk.”
