CAIRO // Egypt will hold presidential elections before parliamentary polls, the interim president Adly Mansour announced on Sunday.
Parliamentary elections were supposed to be held first under a timetable drawn up after the army deposed the former president Mohammed Morsi in July following mass protests against his rule.
Mr Mansour’s announcement comes amid growing calls for the army chief, General Abdel Fattah El Sisi, to run for president.
In a brief televised speech, the president also promised that a rise in “dark terrorism” would not derail the country’s transition to democracy following a spate of bombings and violent protests.
Clashes nationwide over the weekend between security forces and Morsi loyalists who want him reinstated left at least 49 dead, according to the health ministry. The government is also battling an insurgency that has spread from the Sinai Peninsula to other areas of the country, including the capital, Cairo.
Militants killed three soldiers in the Sinai Peninsula on Sunday, and a Sinai-based miliant group on Sunday claimed responsibility for the crash of a military helicopter in the peninsula on Saturday that killed five soldiers. The army had said it was an accident.
The group, Ansar Beit Al Madqis, which has claimed responsibility for a series of deadly attacks across the country, including a spate of bombings in Cairo on Friday, said its fighters brought down the helicopter with a missile.
Mr Mansour said he would ask the election commission to open registration of presidential candidates. Egypt’s newly adopted constitution calls for the first election to be held within 90 days of its passage, or before the end of April, with the parliamentary polls to be held before the end of July.
There have been growing calls for Gen El Sisi to run, with many among Egypt’s turmoil-exhausted public saying only a strongman can deal with the country’s myriads of problems. As well as
“The country needs a strong president, more than it needs a parliament or elected lawmakers,” said Omar Gamaleddin, a Cairo resident. “This is a good decision.”
The head of Al Nour, the ultraconservative Islamist Salafi party, said putting the presidential election first is the consensus among political groups in Egypt. Younes Makhyoun said his party had campaigned for keeping parliamentary elections first, but has accepted the majority decision.
“We would have preferred a parliament first so that the coming president doesn’t combine legislative and executive powers at the same time,” Mr Makhyoun said. “We must now think of the future. ... The declared goal is that the people now need a president more than a parliament to have the leadership necessary to achieve stability.”
Mr Makhyoun said his party has not yet decided whether it would back a bid for the presidency by Gen El Sisi. He added that the next president is expected to deal with a number of challenges, including demands for social justice and more freedoms, as well as dealing with violent groups seeking to destabilise Egypt.
“We don’t need a president to do everything alone. We want to establish the principle of a country of institutions, and not a president that works on his own,” he said.
Gen El Sisi has not yet made a formal announcement. He would have to quit his post as defense minister before launching a campaign for the presidency. Under the new constitution, a president can serve a maximum of two four-year terms.
Ecstatic crowds gathered across the country Saturday in government-sponsored rallies marking the third anniversary of the start of Egypt’s 2011 revolution, with many openly calling for Gen El Sisi to run. But the celebrations competed with widespread clashes across the country as Mr Morsi’s supporters continue to contest the toppling of his Muslim Brotherhood-backed government.
The interim authorities have responded with an intense crackdown on the continued protests, and are facing a surge in terrorist attacks, which they blame on the Brotherhood and its radical Islamist allies. The government already has labelled the Brotherhood a terrorist group, a designation rebuffed by the group that insists it is pursuing peaceful means to challenge authorities.
President Mansour on Sunday vowed that the government would fight the violence “relentlessly” and “mercilessly,” and would not hesitate to resort to “exceptional measures” if necessary. Some security officials have said the government may consider imposing partial curfews.
The president asked judicial authorities to increase the number of courts handling suspects in terrorism and violence-related cases– a way to speed up the prosecution of hundreds of suspects facing trials. Mr Morsi faces at least four trials on various charges, including inciting murder and conspiring with foreign militant groups to destabilise Egypt.
In a gesture appeared aimed to appease rising criticism from secular and liberal groups who had backed the interim authorities, Mr Mansour also said he appealed to prosecutors to review the cases of detainees held without charges from protests, including university students, to ensure that those held for no reasons were released. Thousands are locked up following the intense government crackdown, including Morsi supporters and secular activists.
* With reporting by Associated Press, Reuters and Bloomberg
