LIBERTAS

 

• November 27, 2013: The Co•    January 25, 2011: Sparked by the death of Khaled Saeed, who was beaten to death by police officers in a public street in June 2010, revolutionaries gather in a nation-wide protest against President Hosni Mubarak. 

•    February 11, 2011: President Hosni Mubarak resigns and the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) takes over interim executive and legislative authority.

•    February 13, 2011: SCAF suspends the constitution and parliament, electing a seven-member constitutional reform committee to draft amendments to the constitution. 

•    March 19, 2011: In a referendum, 77% of Egyptian voters (18.5 million people) declared in favor of the proposed constitutional amendments.   

•    March 30, 2011: SCAF issues a 62-article interim constitution/ Constitutional Declaration defining the roles of executive and judicial powers and outlining the terms of a presidential election.

•    April 13, 2011: Ex-president Hosni Mubarak is arrested for allegations of corruption. 

•    May 30, 2011: SCAF presents a draft electoral law for parliamentary elections to the People’s Assembly, which proposes a mixed system whereby one-third of the seats are chosen by proportional representation and the other two-thirds by bloc voting.  

•    September 27, 2011: Following a series of protests, SCAF approves a new electoral law. Two-thirds of parliamentary seats will be filled by those elected through proportional representation and one-third by those elected through bloc voting.

•    October 14, 2011: SCAF leaders announce that presidential elections will not be held until after the parliament is elected, a new constitution is drafted, and a constitutional assembly is established.

•    January 19, 2012: Under pressure from demonstrators, SCAF leaders lay the legal groundwork for a presidential election in June. 

•    January 21, 2012: The Muslim Brotherhood-dominated People’s Assembly is elected by popular vote. 

•    February 25, 2012: An Islamist-dominated “Shura” (upper-house of parliament) is elected. 

•    March 26, 2012: Members of Parliament appoint a 100-member Constitutional Assembly.  

•    April 10, 2012: The Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC) renders Egypt’s first Constituent Assembly unconstitutional, because of its questionable formation, and unrepresentative of women, youth and minority groups. 

•    May 23 – 24, 2012: Egypt holds presidential elections

•    June 12, 2012: A second 100-member Constituent Assembly is elected. Following debate over the role of Islam in the new constitution, 57 secular MPs resign, leaving an Islamist-dominated Constitutional Assembly to write the new constitution. 

•    June 15, 2012: SCAF dissolves the parliament after the SCC declares the 2011 electoral law unconstitutional. 

•    June 17, 2012: SCAF amends the 2011 Constitutional Declaration to limit presidential power and to clarify the role of SCAF during the transitional period. 

•     June 30, 2012: Mohammed Mursi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, is sworn in as Egypt’s new President. 

•    July 10, 2012: President Morsi orders the parliament to reconvene but is shut down by the SCC. 

•    August 2, 2012: President Morsi appoints a new cabinet.

•    October 10, 2012: The Constitutional Assembly issues the first (incomplete) draft of a new constitution. 

•    November 22, 2012: In a constitutional declaration, President Morsi declares his decisions above judicial review until a new parliament is elected, extends the constitutional mandate by two months and demands that the constitutional assembly not be disbanded. Morsi retracts parts of this decree in December because of widespread contention. 

•    November 29, 2012: The Constitutional Assembly’s finalizes a constitutional draft and President Morsi calls for a December 15th referendum.  

•    December 4 and 5, 2012: Thousands organize outside Morsi’s presidential palace protesting his November declaration and demanding that he call off the upcoming referendum. The protest turns violent as Morsi supporters attack the crowd, leaving 10 dead. 

•    December 15 and 22, 2012: The Constituent Assembly holds a constitutional referendum in which 63.8% of Egyptian voters declared in favor of the new constitution. Opposition groups protest the validity of these results but Morsi signs the constitution into law on December 25th. 

•    January 25, 2013: On the second anniversary of the revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak, protests against President Morsi turn violent, leaving 5 dead and many more injured. 

•    June 30, 2013: Thousands of protesters gather in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, calling for the resignation of President Morsi on the anniversary of his inauguration. Violent clashes between Morsi opponents and supporters leave 5 people dead and many more injured. 

•    July 3, 2013: After ongoing public protests Mohamed Morsi is ousted in a SCAF-led coup de’etat and SCAF suspends Egypt’s Constitution. SCAF vests the Supreme Constitutional Court with executive power and names Chairman Adli Mansour the acting president. 

•    July 8, 2013: Interim president Adli Mansour declares a new 33-article constitutional declaration for the transitional period, which calls for a referendum to amend the 2012 constitution with parliamentary and presidential elections to follow. 

•    August 14, 2013: 421 people are killed in a clash between Morsi supporters and the police. 

•    September 1, 2013: A new 50-member Constitutional Assembly is appointed, with 5 seats reserved for women and few for Islamists. 

•    September 4, 2013: Members of the Muslim Brotherhood protest an amendment to the suspended 2012 constitution that bans religious parties from becoming active in the political arena. 

•    September 5, 2013: Mohammed Ibrahim, Egypt’s Interior Minister, survives an assassination attempt that wounds 22 people.  

•    September 8, 2013: The 50-member Constituent Assembly, designed to amend the 2012 constitution, meets for the first time, electing opposition leader and former presidential candidate Amr Moussa as its President.

•    September 10, 2013: The Constituent Assembly elects Rapporteurs for its four sub-committees. The first three committees will be designated one of the constitution’s three chapters to work on: Primary Elements of the State, Political Regime, and Freedoms and Rights. The fourth sub-committee will be responsible for public education and consultation during the amendment period. 

•    September 11, 2013: Interim President Adly Mansour forms the Supreme Electoral Committee by decree, in preparation for a constitutional referendum. 

•    September 18, 2013: Egypt’s Grand Mufti, Shawky Allam, announces his staunch opposition to proposed amendments to constitutional articles relating to Islam and Sharia Law, suggesting that these amendments do not reflect the character of the predominantly Islamic Egyptian state.   

•    September 25, 2013: Constituent Assembly announces the amendment of Article 54 of the constitution, banning the formation of religiously-oriented political parties.  

•     September 27, 2013: Egypt’s Islamist Al-Nour Party rejects the amendment of Article 54 as “discriminatory and exclusionary”.  

•    September 2013: Mass demonstrations continue as Morsi supporters denounce the interim government and call for Morsi’s reinstatement. More than 1,000 people have died in violent clashes since Morsi was deposed. 

•    October 2, 2013: Amr Mousa announces the Constituent assembly’s intention to entirely re-write the 2012 constitution instead of just amending select articles. A first draft of the constitution is to be released in mid-October and a final draft is expected by November. 

•    October 6, 2013: Violent clashes between Morsi and military supporters leave 50 dead and at least 286 injured. It is one of the deadliest clashes since the violence of August 14th, which took 421 lives. 

•    October 23, 2013: A representative of the the 50-member Constituent Assembly, charged with amending the 2012 constitution, announces that the Assembly has agreed on 189 of the 200 expected articles in the charter. 18 of those 189 articles are brand new. The committee will finalize the charter by December 3, 2013 in time for a Referendum to be held in late December.

•    October 27, 2013: Egypt's constitutional panel begins voting on the new draft constitution.

•    October 31, 2013: The Constitutional Committee passes an article for the draft constitution banning the censorship of Egypt’s state media.

•    November 2, 2013: The Constitutional Committee debates controversial provisions that the Egyptian Military has suggested granting them “special privileges” such as the ability to try civilians who threaten their military interests in secret military courts.

•    November 4, 2013: The trial of ousted President Mohamed Morsi begins, with frequent interruptions by Morsi and his supporters claiming that he was wrongfully deposed and is still Egypt’s rightful President.

•    November 5, 2013: Leader of the constitution-drafting panel, Amr Moussa, claims that the panel’s final debates will be held in public and that those “alternate (substitute)” panel members, who had previously been barred from joining the proceedings, will now have access.

•    November 7, 2013: Christian members of the constitution-drafting panel threaten to quit after controversial debates over articles defining the role of Islam and Sharia law threatened to give too much power to Islamic extremists.

•    November 8, 2013: The constitution-writing panel approves an amendment abolishing the Upper House of Parliament (The Shura Council) in favor of a unicameral legislative system. The Egyptian public will choose to accept or reject this proposal in the December referendum.

•    November 11, 2013: The constitution-writing panel votes to give a future president the power to dissolve Parliament if they do not endorse his choice for the role of Prime Minister.

•    November 20, 2013: The State Information Service (SIS) begins a nationwide media initiative to explain the constitution’s articles and to convince the public to register and vote in the upcoming constitutional referendum.

•    November 21, 2013: The Constituent Assembly votes to keep article giving the Egyptian military the right to try civilians in military courts and, stirring even further controversy, adds a second article whereby, for the next 8 years, the defense minister would be a military member.

•    November 22, 2013: Egypt’s Salafist, Nour, and Misr Al-Qawiya parties reject the articles in the draft constitution granting the military special privileges, suggesting that it demonstrates an unwelcome turn against democracy.

•    November 24, 2013: President Adly Mansour signs into law a bill that limits rallies, protests, and other public gatherings, demanding protest organizers to give authorities at least 3 days written warning beforehand.

•    November 26, 2013: Ten members of the Constituent Assembly suspend their work on the constitution after roughly 30 protesters, demanding the removal of the controversial article allowing the military to try civilians, were arrested for breaking the new law requiring them to give three days written notice to authorities before beginning a protest.

•    November 27, 2013: The Constituent Assembly finishes amending the suspended constitution and prepare for an article-by-article vote on the document to be held on the 30th.

•    November 30-December 1, 2013: The Constituent Assembly votes on and approves the new constitution, amid heavy anti-government protests in Cairo’s Tahrir Square.

•    December 3, 2013: President Adly Monsour approves the new constitution, announcing that the constitutional referendum would be held within a month.

•    December 14, 2013: President Adly Monsour sets the constitutional referendum for January 14th-15th.

•    December 16, 2013: The Islamist Morsi supporters and members of Egypt’s anti-coup youth movement decide to boycott the January referendum.

•    December 18, 2013: Two members of Egypt’s constitution-drafting panel claim that changes were made to the text of the draft constitution after the committee had approved the document in preparation for a national referendum. Amr Moussa, leader of the constitution-drafting panel, denies these allegations.

•    December 19, 2013: United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, praises Egypt’s constitutional committee for revising the text to say “civilian government” instead of “civilian rule”, an amendment he claims is necessary to promote diversity in a democratic country as it welcomes religious and military leaders to take-on positions of authority in the new Egyptian Government. The first session of Egypt’s National Dialogue opens in Cairo.

•    December 23, 2013: A car bomb explosion outside of a security base in the city of Mansoura kills 14 and injures 134. Prime Minister Hazem Beblawi condemns the Muslim Brotherhood, whose members were suspected of orchestrating the attack, declaring it a “terrorist” organization.

•    December 24, 2013: Egyptian security forces raid al-Azhar University, arresting dozens of male and female students in an attempt to crack down on student activists before the January referendum.

•    December 29, 2013: President Adly Monsour announces the government’s commitment to holding parliamentary and presidential elections within 6 months of the January referendum, should the public approve the draft constitution.

•    January 3, 2014: Nasr el-Dim Shaisha, Spokesman for Egypt’s High Elections Commission Counselor, announces that over 16,000 judges have been called upon to supervise the January constitutional referendum. Clashes between Morsi supporters and the Egyptian security forces continue, claiming two more lives and wounding nine others.

•    January 6, 2014: President Adly Monsour amends the political rights law, introducing special polling stations to make it easier for Egyptians who live far from the registered addresses to vote in the constitutional referendum.

•    January 8-12, 2014: Egyptian ex-patriots in 161 different countries vote on the constitutional draft.

•    January 13, 2014: Human Rights Watch condemns the Egyptian authorities for continuing to arrest activists for hanging posters calling for a “no” vote in the constitutional referendum, claiming that it restricts their freedom of choice. HRW reporters claim that some of these activists were also beaten and subjected to violent emotional and physical abuse while in custody.

•    January 14-15, 2014: Egyptians vote in a constitutional referendum amidst continued violence between Morsi supporters and security forces that killed 11 people in 3 provinces. 79 people were arrested during these protests.

•    January 18, 2014: The official results of the national referendum reveal that 98.1% of voters approved the new constitution. Voter turnout for the referendum was much lower than anticipated, however, with only 38.6% of eligible voters casting a ballot.