...
Lifting the state of emergency, which would abolish the emergency court system, as well as ending the trial of civilians before al- mahākim al-'askariyya, would be a further important step upgrading the rule of law and balancing the imbalanced separation of power concept in Egypt (Dunne 2006: 12). A clear separation between the judiciary and the executive has still not been achieved. Both the Minister of Defence - as mentioned above - and the Minister of Justice continue to exercise considerable authority over the judiciary (Omar Sherif 1999: 35, 38 et seq.). If the powers of the President have decreased following the amendments, he still keeps the most important ones, be it in the executive (see Article 137, Article 148 and Article 150 of the Constitution), legislative (See Article 108, Article 109, Article 112, Article 113 of the Constitution) or even judicial fields where he is the one who nominates the general prosecutor, the presidents of the Court of Cassation and of the Supreme Constitutional Court, and is the head of the council of judicial bodies. Moreover, although the powers of the parliament have increased, it has to be seen whether the two assemblies dominated by the ruling party Hizb al-Watanī ad-Dīmuqrātī will put substantial modifications in the draft budget to table. Though they were introduced as strengthening the balance of powers (Risālat ar-Ra'īs Mubārak, 26 December 2006). the The constitutional amendments have not procured major changes in the distribution of powers within the executive authority itself and between the executive and legislative ones. Nevertheless, the reform package could constitute the basis of further revisions in the future.
...
