Cowed Egyptians meet Sisi’s power grab with apathy

The Egyptian parliament on Feb. 14 overwhelmingly endorsed sweeping constitutional changes that include extending presidential terms from four years to six and exempting President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi from his current two-term limit. Some 485 out of a total of 596 lawmakers (more than 81%) in the House of Representatives voted in favor of proposed revisions that could allow Sisi to remain in power until 2034 and would expand the military's authority by allowing a council of military officers to "oversee the state."

The proposed amendments have been submitted to parliament's Legislative and Constitutional Committee for review before they are put to a national referendum that critics expect will likely be rigged in favor of the changes.

The news that parliament had given a nod to the controversial changes was largely met with apathy in Egypt. The country's civil society and political parties, weakened by years of political repression, had clearly resigned themselves to that outcome given that the bulk of the deputies are from parliament's majority "Support Egypt" bloc that had spearheaded the proposed revisions. It is a well-known fact that the lawmakers in Egypt's lower house were handpicked by the country's notorious security agencies to ensure that the laws passed are a rubber stamp for Sisi's decisions.

The subdued reaction to parliament's swift approval of the amendments is a far cry from the stiff resistance faced by President Mohammed Morsi when he attempted to pass a controversial decree that would have raised his edicts above judicial review in 2012. Although the Muslim Brotherhood-backed president had sought to allay the concerns of the opposition that the decree was temporary (lasting only until a constitution was approved), the fierce backlash he faced from the judiciary, civil society, leftist political parties and ordinary citizens forced him to quickly rescind his decision. The following year, Morsi was ousted by Sisi.