REPORT: Panel completes amending Egypt's constitution

A mostly liberal panel has completed amending Egypt's constitution passed last year under now-ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, setting the stage for a national referendum seen as a key, but contentious step in the country's transition.       

Egypt's interim government, installed by the military after it removed Morsi in July, is touting the new document as paving the way for a new political system it hopes will calm months of turmoil. If the charter is adopted in a referendum, the next steps will be parliamentary and presidential elections in the spring and summer of 2014.       

But the referendum, likely in January, is expected to stoke protests by Islamist supporters of Morsi, who reject the post-coup government. The final draft of the amended constitution has also drawn opposition from some secular pro-democracy activists because it enshrines greater power for the military.       

Authorities are hoping the new constitution will be approved in the referendum by a higher percentage and stronger turnout than the Morsi-era document, as a show of legitimacy of the post-coup system. The Morsi-era constitution, drafted by a panel dominated by Islamists, was passed in December 2012 with about 64 percent of the vote, but at lowly turnout rate of little more than 30 percent.       

 A 50-member panel appointed by the government completed voting clause by clause on the final draft late Sunday.       

On Monday, members of the panel met in a televised session in which they lavished praise on the document and pledged to do more to help Egypt through its bumpy transition to democracy. 

The panel will now submit the draft to the interim president, Adly Mansour, who is to announce a date for the referendum.       

The panel is dominated by secular-leaning figures. But it includes several Islamists, including one from an ultraconservative party, and representatives from Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's foremost seat of learning, and Christian churches.       


For more details, watch Nicole Hajal's full report in the video above