(AFP PHOTO / VIRGINIE NGUYEN HOANG)
While it is widely believed that the recently drafted constitution will pass through the nationwide referendum with a Yes vote, there is a great deal of ambiguity as to what would happen in the event of a No majority.
The post 3 July roadmap does not account for such a result, leaving constitutional experts to speculate on what steps would be taken if the constitution does not pass.
Constitutional expert, Mohamed Noor Farahat said that interim President Adly Mansour will have to make a decision in that case.
“The president will either choose to form a new constituent assembly to write a new constitution, or ask the already existing Constituent Assembly to amend the draft constitution; after that, he will call for another referendum,” Farahat said.
Constituent Assembly member, Chairman of Cairo University and constitutional expert, Gaber Nassar dismissed this as unlikely.
“However, if the draft constitution does not pass, the steps of the roadmap will be re-arranged via a constitutional decree issued by Mansour, and then the parties who recognise the roadmap will meet to agree on the next step,” he said. “It might be a return to 1971 constitution, or forming up a new Constituent Assembly to write a new constitution.”
