Egypt's Islamist-led assembly today approved a constitution aimed at addressing the crisis over the sweeping powers president Mohammed Morsi has granted himself.
Although it put an eight-year limit on any president’s term in office, it also approved of Mr Morsi’s decree that no authority could revoke his decisions.
The Supreme Constitutional Court has threatened to dissolve the assembly, and two people have been killed and hundreds injured in protests about the president’s decision to award himself such powers.
Many fear they give him dictatorial control over the country, less than two years after president Hosni Mubarak was ousted after three decades in power. Mr Morsi has claimed that his powers are temporary and are aimed at protecting the transition to a constitutional democracy.
Mr Morsi’s critics have claimed that the assembly vote, which was finalised after a 19-hour session, was an attempt to rush through a draft constitution that was hijacked by Mr Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood. Setting the stage for more tension, the Muslim Brotherhood and its Islamist allies have called for pro-Morsi rallies tomorrow. However, officials from the Brotherhood’s party have decided to avoid Tahrir Square, where a sit-in by the president’s opponents entered its eighth day today.
Mr Morsi is expected to ratify the document by tomorrow, allowing a referendum to be held as soon as mid-December.
