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CAIRO: Egyptian president scrapped a decree that gave him extra powers and ignited violent protests, but irate opponents said on Sunday he had deepened the conflict by pressing on with a vote on a constitution shaped by Islamists.
President Mohammed Morsi and his Islamist partisans have insisted the referendum go ahead on Dec. 15 to seal a democratic transition that began when a popular uprising felled Hosni Mubarak 22 months ago after three decades of one-man rule.
The retraction of Morsi’s Nov. 22 decree, announced around midnight after a “national dialogue” boycotted by almost all the president’s opponents, has failed to calm a war of words.
Prime Minister Hisham Kandil, a technocrat with Islamist leanings, said the referendum was the best test of opinion. “The people are the makers of the future as long as they have the freedom to resort to the ballot box in a democratic, free and fair vote,” he said in a cabinet statement.
But opposition factions, uncertain of their ability to vote down the constitution against the Islamists’ organisational muscle, want the document redrafted before any vote.
Ahmed Said, a liberal leader of the main opposition National Salvation Front, said Morsi’s withdrawal of his Nov. 22 decree had not annulled its consequences, describing the race to a referendum as “shocking” and an “act of war” against Egyptians. The Front has promised aformal response later on Sunday.
Egypt tipped into turmoil after Morsi grabbed powers to stop any court action to hinder the transition. An assembly led by Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists then swiftly approved the constitution it had spent six months drafting.
Liberals, leftists, Christians and others had already quit the assembly in dismay, saying their voices were being ignored.The April 6 movement, prominent in the anti-Mubarak revolt, derided the result of Saturday’s talks as “manipulation and a continuation of deception in the name of law and legitimacy.”
A leftist group led by defeated presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahy demanded the referendum be deferred until a consensus could be reached on a new draft, saying there could be “no dialogue while blood is being spilled in the streets.”
But Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Mahmoud Ghozlan said scrapping Morsi’s decree had removed any cause for controversy. “We ask others to announce their acceptance of the referendum result,” he said on the group’s Facebook page, asking whether the opposition would accept “the basics of democracy”.
“A constitution without consensus can’t go to a referendum,” said Hermes Fawzi, 28, a protester outside the palace. “It’s not logical that just one part of society makes the constitution.”
After the dialogue hosted by Morsi, a spokesman announced that the president had issued a new decree whose first article “cancels the constitutional declaration” of Nov. 22. He said the referendum could not be delayed for legal reasons.
Islamists reckon they can win the referendum and, once the new constitution is in place, an election for a new parliament about two months later. The Islamist-led lower house elected this year was dissolved after a few months by a court order.
The new decree removed some parts of the old one that had angered the opposition, including an article that had given Morsi broad powers to confront threats to the revolution or the nation — wording that critics said gave him arbitrary authority.
It also dropped an article that had shielded Morsi’s actions from the courts until a new parliament was elected, reflecting his distrust of a judiciary largely unreformed from Mubarak’s era. But the new decree said “constitutional declarations including this declaration” remained beyond judicial review.
The new decree also set procedures to form an assembly to write a new constitution if Egyptians vote this draft down.The military told feuding factions on Saturday that only dialogue could avert “catastrophe”. But a military source said these remarks did not herald an army takeover. — Reuters
AFP adds: Egyptian President Morsi backed down on Saturday in a political crisis marked by weeks of street protests, after the powerful army gave an ultimatum to him and the opposition to hold talks.
But the initial signs were that his concession would not satisfy an increasingly fierce opposition.But on Saturday the powerful military, in its first statement since the crisis began, told both sides to talk. Otherwise, it warned, Egypt would descend “into a dark tunnel with disastrous results — and that is something we will not allow.”
The army said it “stands always with the great Egyptian people and insists on its unity” but it was its duty to protect state institutions. It urged a solution based on “democratic rules.”
President Mohammed Morsi and his Islamist partisans have insisted the referendum go ahead on Dec. 15 to seal a democratic transition that began when a popular uprising felled Hosni Mubarak 22 months ago after three decades of one-man rule.
The retraction of Morsi’s Nov. 22 decree, announced around midnight after a “national dialogue” boycotted by almost all the president’s opponents, has failed to calm a war of words.
Prime Minister Hisham Kandil, a technocrat with Islamist leanings, said the referendum was the best test of opinion. “The people are the makers of the future as long as they have the freedom to resort to the ballot box in a democratic, free and fair vote,” he said in a cabinet statement.
But opposition factions, uncertain of their ability to vote down the constitution against the Islamists’ organisational muscle, want the document redrafted before any vote.
Ahmed Said, a liberal leader of the main opposition National Salvation Front, said Morsi’s withdrawal of his Nov. 22 decree had not annulled its consequences, describing the race to a referendum as “shocking” and an “act of war” against Egyptians. The Front has promised aformal response later on Sunday.
Egypt tipped into turmoil after Morsi grabbed powers to stop any court action to hinder the transition. An assembly led by Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists then swiftly approved the constitution it had spent six months drafting.
Liberals, leftists, Christians and others had already quit the assembly in dismay, saying their voices were being ignored.The April 6 movement, prominent in the anti-Mubarak revolt, derided the result of Saturday’s talks as “manipulation and a continuation of deception in the name of law and legitimacy.”
A leftist group led by defeated presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahy demanded the referendum be deferred until a consensus could be reached on a new draft, saying there could be “no dialogue while blood is being spilled in the streets.”
But Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Mahmoud Ghozlan said scrapping Morsi’s decree had removed any cause for controversy. “We ask others to announce their acceptance of the referendum result,” he said on the group’s Facebook page, asking whether the opposition would accept “the basics of democracy”.
“A constitution without consensus can’t go to a referendum,” said Hermes Fawzi, 28, a protester outside the palace. “It’s not logical that just one part of society makes the constitution.”
After the dialogue hosted by Morsi, a spokesman announced that the president had issued a new decree whose first article “cancels the constitutional declaration” of Nov. 22. He said the referendum could not be delayed for legal reasons.
Islamists reckon they can win the referendum and, once the new constitution is in place, an election for a new parliament about two months later. The Islamist-led lower house elected this year was dissolved after a few months by a court order.
The new decree removed some parts of the old one that had angered the opposition, including an article that had given Morsi broad powers to confront threats to the revolution or the nation — wording that critics said gave him arbitrary authority.
It also dropped an article that had shielded Morsi’s actions from the courts until a new parliament was elected, reflecting his distrust of a judiciary largely unreformed from Mubarak’s era. But the new decree said “constitutional declarations including this declaration” remained beyond judicial review.
The new decree also set procedures to form an assembly to write a new constitution if Egyptians vote this draft down.The military told feuding factions on Saturday that only dialogue could avert “catastrophe”. But a military source said these remarks did not herald an army takeover. — Reuters
AFP adds: Egyptian President Morsi backed down on Saturday in a political crisis marked by weeks of street protests, after the powerful army gave an ultimatum to him and the opposition to hold talks.
But the initial signs were that his concession would not satisfy an increasingly fierce opposition.But on Saturday the powerful military, in its first statement since the crisis began, told both sides to talk. Otherwise, it warned, Egypt would descend “into a dark tunnel with disastrous results — and that is something we will not allow.”
The army said it “stands always with the great Egyptian people and insists on its unity” but it was its duty to protect state institutions. It urged a solution based on “democratic rules.”
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