Cairo: Egypt's military rulers have given themselves sweeping powers in an amended constitutional declaration issued Sunday night, shortly after the end of voting in a tense presidential runoff.
According to the amended document, published in the Official Gazette, the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces is to be in charge of all matters related to the army, including appointing its commanders.
"The chief of the council will have all the powers, set out in laws and regulations for the general commander of the Armed Forces and the defence minister until a new constitution is written," stated the document amending a constitutional declaration issued in March last year.
The latest declaration makes it obligatory for Egypt's new president to secure the approval of the ruling military before going to war. It also gives the generals, who have been governing Egypt since Hosni Mubarak's ouster in February last year, the legislative powers after the country's highest court invalidated the lower house of the parliament last week.
The military will also have the power to form an assembly to write a permanent constitution in three months' time starting from the day of its creation.
The amended declaration states that the military council's chief will have, along with the head of the state, the prime minister, the state-appointed Supreme Judicial Council and one fifth of the 100-strong constituent assembly the power to veto articles in the draft constitution deemed to "counter the objectives and basic principles of the revolution that serve the country's supreme interests".
The Supreme Constitutional Court will have to rule on such disputes in seven days. The ruling military previously promised to transfer power to an elected president by the end of this month.
Observers say that the military will stay in power until a permanent constitution is approved in a public vote and a new parliament is elected, a process that may not be completed before the end of the year.
The constitutional changes were unveiled few hours after Egyptians voted in the presidential election, contested by the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Mursi and Ahmed Shafiq, Mubarak's last premier. Mursi's campaigners claimed their candidate is leading in vote counting.
