-->Morsi to relinquish expanded powers, hold referendum as planned
Egypt's
President Mohamed Mursi attends a meeting with other politicians and
heads of parties at the presidential palace in Cairo December 8,
2012. (Reuters)
RT,
9
December, 2012
Following
a meeting with the opposition, the Egyptian president has decided to
keep a constitutional referendum on schedule, but will scrap the
decree that gave him sweeping powers and sparked violent nationwide
protests, officials say.
“The
constitutional decree is annulled from this moment,” said
Selim al-Awa, an Islamist politician acting as spokesman of the
meeting, adding that the committee recommended the removal of several
articles shielding Morsi from judicial oversight and granting him
powers to declare emergency laws, AFP reports.
The
statement comes after a meeting with the opposition, called by Morsi
in an effort to quell the violent protests that have shaken the
country for two weeks.
“There
is no power that would choose to prevent the people from
participating in the referendum,” said
Egyptian Vice President Mahmoud Mekky.
The
committee made sure the referendum would be held on time, Mekky
stated, adding that it could be held in several phases if the number
of participating judges was insufficient.
However,
the majority of the discussion committee's 54 members were Islamists
as most of the country's main opposition groups opted out, including
the crucial National Salvation Front led by former presidential
candidates Mohamed El Baradei, Hamdeen Sabbahi and Amr Moussa.
The
National Salvation Front considers annulling the decree a “relatively
meaningless” move,
and vows to escalate the opposition.
“We
respect that he was elected with 51.7 per cent of the vote, but 48
per cent did not vote for him,” a
spokesman for the NSF told Al Jazeera. “That
means that he has to compromise – he has to build a
consensus.”
Meanwhile,
the April 6 movement has stated that all those who participated in
the discussions between the Egypt’s government and the opposition
on Saturday “have
no power over the protesters,” Naharnet
reports.
While
maintaining that it must protect the country, Egypt's military had
called on Morsi to find a compromise with
the opposition.
“Anything
other than that will force us into a dark tunnel with disastrous
consequences; something that we won't allow,”the
military's statement read. “The
armed forces … realize their responsibility to preserve the higher
interests of the country and to secure and protect vital targets,
public institutions and the interests of innocent citizens.”
Members of the Egyptian opposition against President Mohamed Morsi gather next to their tents in Cairo's Tahrir Square, on December 8, 2012. (AFP Photo / Patrick Baz)
Local
media hint that Morsi might soon reimpose martial law, which had been
the status quo in Egypt for six decades until the overthrow of the
Hosni Mubarak government.
Morsi's November
22 emergency decree and
the draft constitution days later sent the country into turmoil,
where at least seven people were killed and hundreds more injured in
riots nationwide. With the new decree, Morsi allocated himself
overwhelming powers until the approval of a new draft constitution,
which set to be completed by referendum on December 15.
Morsi has resource to 'crush' opposition
The
situation in Egypt will remain dangerous, as the opposition will try
to avoid the constitutional vote scheduled for next Saturday at any
cost, Lawrence Davidson, a professor of Middle East history at
Westchester University, told RT.
"I
don't think that the Brotherhood, the Salafis and the rest of the
Islamic population in Egypt – which makes up the majority – will
stand against being pushed out. So it is a very, very dangerous
situation. It is potentially very violent situation. I do not think
the army is going to keep them out, therefore I think the ball is in
the opposition's court."
The
opposition wants to rewrite the revolution and hold new elections to
get rid of Morsi altogether, Davidson says.
"Essentially
they want new elections, and they want a new constituent assembly and
a new constitution. And they are trying to force that on Morsi, and
he is trying to figure out a way to avoid that."
But
the danger lies, the professor says, in the fact that the opposition
only represents a minority – and the president has the power to
force the new constitution through.
"I
don't think the opposition understands that they are in fact a
minority, not the majority. I think, he [Morsi] thinks that if the
vote goes ahead, he could marshall his forces and have the
constitution passed. And I think the opposition knows that he can do
that, therefore they want to stop that vote," Davidson
explained, adding "he
does have the resources to crush them if he wanted."
An Egyptian woman visits an installation made of political art and slogans in Cairo's Tahrir Square, on December 8, 2012. (AFP Photo / Patrick Baz)
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