Assembly to hasten constitution
DAYS after Egypt’s president gave the assembly drafting his country’s new constitution two extra months to complete its work, the head of that panel announced yesterday that it would finish its deliberations and vote on the result today.
The announcement by Ahmed Darrag, a member of President Mohamed Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood, caught Egyptians by surprise and may be an attempt to end the turmoil that has engulfed the country since Morsi’s decree last week awarding himself untrammelled powers.
He has promised to surrender those powers as soon as a new constitution is approved. The truncated timetable means it could be put to a referendum as early as mid-December.
‘‘If you are upset by the decree, nothing will stop it except a new constitution issued immediately,’’ Hossam el-Gheriyani, the assembly’s Speaker, said.
Whether a referendum would approve the constitution or merely deepen the rift between Egypt’s Islamists and nonIslamists is another matter.
More than 20 liberal, secularist and Christian members have walked out of the 100-strong assembly.
They claim it has been hijacked by a Brotherhood and Salafist majority that has given the draft constitution an Islamist slant with few protections for women, minorities or basic freedoms.
‘‘This is nonsensical and one of the steps that shouldn’t be taken, given the background of anger and resentment to the constitutional assembly,’’ Amr Moussa, an opposition leader, said of yesterday’s announcement.
‘‘This is not a healthy moment to be pushing through a constitution because this is an extremely divisive moment,’’ said Heba Morayef, the Egypt director of Human Rights Watch. ‘‘Human rights groups have very serious concerns.’’
Morsi insists that he assumed dictatorial powers temporarily to prevent last year’s revolution being thwarted by Mubarak-era judges and other senior officials, but his move caused uproar.
Protesters filled Tahrir Square on Wednesday in the biggest demonstration since Mubarak’s fall, and there were protests in other cities across Egypt.
‘‘Revolution to save the revolution,’’ the independent newspaper AlMasry Al-Youm proclaimed.
The country’s appeals courts went on strike yesterday to demand that the president’s decree be rescinded, and the stock market plunged another 4.6 per cent.
The opposition will hold another huge rally in Cairo tomorrow, and the Muslim Brotherhood a massive counter-demonstration on Sunday, raising fears of widespread violence.
The opposition ‘‘should brace for millions in support of the elected prez’’, the Brotherhood tweeted.
There is speculation that the Supreme Constitutional Court will order the dissolution of the constituent assembly, even though Morsi sought to pre-empt such a move in his decree by giving the assembly immunity from judicial rulings.
Hundreds of protesters remained camped in Tahrir Square yesterday .
‘‘We want to get rid of the regime,’’ said activist Nagwa Alsouda. ‘‘What we did to Mubarak we will do to them.’’ The Times