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The Telegraph
9:07 PM - 9 Dec 12 · Details\
Egypt's opposition rejects Mohammed Morsi compromise on constitution
Egypt's opposition rejected an offer of compromise by President Mohammed Morsi to end the country's crisis over a new constitution as an empty show on Sunday, and called for mass street protests on Tuesday.
Even if he wins the referendum, Mr Morsi will continue to face allegations he has marginalised a substantial minority within the country Photo: REUTERS
A fresh rally was under way around the presidential palace last night as leaders of the liberal and secular opposition to Mr Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood set up a final showdown before Saturday's referendum on the constitution.
Mr Morsi had agreed on Saturday night to drop a constitutional decree giving himself powers beyond judicial scrutiny. But he replaced it with a new one that insisted the referendum would go ahead despite calls for a delay.
A moderate Islamist politician involved in talks with the Brotherhood over the crisis said there would be an opportunity later to revise controversial articles of the draft constitution, which the opposition says does not guarantee basic rights.
But opposition groups refused to back down, and held a press conference on Sunday night to denounce both the referendum and Mr Morsi's repeated constitutional decrees.
"We do not recognise the draft constitution because it does not represent the Egyptian people," a statement by the opposition coalition National Salvation Front said.
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"We reject the referendum which will certainly lead to more division and sedition."
The compromise was "a continuation of deception in the name of law and legitimacy", said the April 6 Movement, a left-wing group behind last year's revolution against former president Hosni Mubarak which is part of the Front.
The Brotherhood is confident it has enough groundswell support to win the referendum, which will be decided on a straight majority.
They believe that the liberals represent a minority view within Egypt as a whole, which is happy to see the emphasis on Islam that runs through parts of the constitutional draft.
"The seculars and liberals are mobilising people to bring down the Islamic state," Mohammed Bishawi, a long-time Muslim Brotherhood member, said at a counter-rally at the organisation's headquarters on the outskirts of Cairo.
The building was ransacked by an angry mob on Thursday night, as had other Brotherhood-linked offices around the country, and the organisation was staging a symbolic demonstration to protect it.
Mr Bishawi claimed that the wave of opposition to Mr Morsi in the last two weeks, since he announced his new powers, was "manufactured by the media".
"We, the Islamic powers, chosen by democratic election, want to prove to the world that the Egyptian people are with President Morsi and their new constitution," he said. "The liberals don't have any real existence on the street."
Both sides are now involved in a high-stakes gamble. The opposition risks making itself look irrelevant if the constitution is passed by a large majority.
But if the Brotherhood loses the referendum or it has a cripplingly low turnout, it will be a damaging blow to its assumption that political Islam is the dominant voice of Egyptian society.
It will also suggest the public accept the opposition view that the Brotherhood is showing increasing authoritarian tendencies. The prosecution service yesterday referred to investigators a Brotherhood claim that named opposition leaders, judges and journalists were conspiring in a plot to overthrow the government.
If there is a "no" vote in the referendum, a new 100-member constitutional assembly will have to be elected within three months, a new constitution agreed within six months and put to a referendum within a month after that.
Only after that can there be new parliamentary elections, by which time the Brotherhood may have lost the popularity it had when it convincingly won elections earlier this year.
Even if he wins the referendum, Mr Morsi will continue to face allegations he has marginalised a substantial minority within the country.
The constitutional crisis has overshadowed Egypt's continuing economic crisis, with foreign currency reserves falling to a dangerously low level and budget deficits rising.
The government risked further anger on the streets yesterday by announcing increases in sales taxes, including on cooking oil, with a 50 per cent raise in cigarette taxes and a doubling of the beer tax particularly noticeable.
