Egyptian Parliament Approves Constitutional Amendments Likely to Extend President Sisi’s Rule

Egyptian lawmakers approved constitutional amendments that will allow President Abdel al-Fattah al-Sisi to run for office for a third term. Sisi was elected president in 2014 after leading a military coup a year earlier that deposed Islamist leader Mohamed Morsi. While Egypt’s constitution previously limited the president to serving consecutive four-year terms, the new changes extend Sisi’s second term by two years and virtually guarantee that he will remain in power beyond that given he won re-election in 2018 with 97 percent of the vote. That contest was marred by controversy, with human rights groups accusing Sisi of jailing political opponents and repressing dissent. Egypt’s parliament is slated to hold another controversial vote on an additional amendment that would grant the army a greater role in running the country. This has raised fears that the country is reverting back to the period before the Arab Spring uprisings when military strongman Hosni Mubarak ruled Egypt for three decades.