Constitutional amendments have been approved by Egypt’s parliament that would allow for President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi to stay in power until 2030.
His second four-year term is expected to come to an end in 2022 where he’s expected to stand down, but the current amendments, which must be put to a referendum in a month, would extend his current term to six years and also allow him to stand for one more if he’s re-elected in the next elections.
The amendments also give Mr Sisi more authority over the judiciary arm and further strengthens the military’s role in politics.
Following protests against his rule, Mohammed Morsi was overthrown in 2013 as the first democratically elected president of Egypt, Mr Sisi led the overthrow.
Winning 97% of the votes, Mr Sisi was re-elected last year as he faced no serious competitions because potential rivals either dropped out of the race or were arrested.
Parliament is also widely dominated by Mr Sisi’s supporters and it has been hugely criticised by the opposition party as being a rubber stamp for the president.
Mohammed Abu Hamed, the MP who campaigned for the constitutional amendments told AFP news agency that “Mr Sisi was a president who took important political, economic and security measures and who had to be allowed to continue with his reforms in the wake of the unrest in neighbouring Libya and Sudan.”
But Khaled Dawoud, of the liberal al-Dustour party has tagged the argument “absurd” and told the BBC that the changes clearly show a “power-grab” by Mr Sisi.
Article 140 of Egypt’s current constitution, which was approved in a referendum in 2014, says that the president serves four-year terms and may only be re-elected once.
But the changes approved by MPs on Tuesday has extended presidential terms to six years.
Mr Sisi’s current term would then be extended by an additional two years as a result of the transitional arrangement outlined in article 241, and could also allow him the opportunity to contest for an additional six-year term in 2024.