Egyptian court to hear challenge to presidential term limits as supporters push for Sisi to stay on

An Egyptian court has agreed to hear a challenge to the two-term limit for the presidency, a potential first step towards changing the constitution to allow Abdel Fattah el-Sisi a third term as president.  

Mr Sisi, a former general who has crushed virtually all political opposition, has said publicly he plans to serve only two terms but many Egyptians suspect he will try to stay on as president.   

Ayman Abdel-Hakim Ramadan, a lawyer who supports Mr Sisi, filed a court case demanding that Egypt’s parliament debate the two-term limit and consider changing it. The court has agreed to hear the case on December 23.

Mr Ramadan made no secret of his hope the Mr Sisi would stay in office indefinitely, as previous Egyptian leaders have done. "I love el-Sisi very much and I believe in him," he said. "I want him president for life."

Mr Ramadan and his fellow petitioners wrote in their court filing that it would be “unfair to the great Egyptian people” if Mr Sisi’s term was limited to eight years and he was not given enough time to deal with the country’s security and economic problems. 

Egypt’s constitution was rewritten after the 2011 revolution which overthrew Hosni Mubarak, the longtime dictator of Egypt. 

The constitution was then rewritten again after Mr Sisi and other military leaders overthrew Mohammed Morsi, the elected Muslim Brotherhood president, in a military coup in 2013. 

The latest version of the constitution, which includes the two-term limit on the presidency, was overwhelmingly approved by a referendum in 2014.  

Any changes to the constitution would have to be approved by parliament, which is dominated by Mr Sisi’s supporters. The amendments would then have to be ratified in a national referendum. 

Mr Sisi won re-election in March with 97 per cent of the vote. Egyptian security forces arrested and intimidated all serious challengers and human rights groups denounced the election as “farcical”. 

While Mr Ramadan appears to have acted on his volition in filing the lawsuit, the case was widely covered in Egyptian state media, suggesting governmental approval for the move.