During a rally held in Minya governorate, Nour Youssef, a member of the Social Democratic Party, urged his village to vote “yes” on the draft constitution. The crowds shouted, “viva Egypt, bread, freedom and social justice”, repeating the 25 January 25 Revolution slogan. A few blocks from the rally, there was a protest by the Muslim Brotherhood and ousted president Mohamed Morsi supporters “No to the new constitution, Morsi is still our president,” they chanted. The twin scenes will be dominating the political landscape in the weeks ahead and is reflecting the current troubled transitional period. Campaigns kicked off by political forces last week after the head of the Committee of Fifty Amr Moussa submitted the draft constitution to interim President Adli Mansour. The committee concluded the final voting on the draft constitution, after approving 245 articles, most of them by consensus. However, the committee left the decision on articles of the electoral system and House of Representatives to be made by Mansour, currently assuming a legislative role until the election of a new parliament. Political groups had a busy week, with each one holding a press conference to announce positions towards the new constitution and to decide on mobilisation plans. Posters are being printed to inform citizens about social and economic rights to facilitate an understanding of the new constitution. Moussa called on Egyptians to take part in the referendum on the constitution and vote “yes”, saying “Egypt faces the danger of strife”. Moussa told Al-Ahram, “it's in Egyptian interests that we demand from everyone to take part in the referendum and vote ‘yes'. There is strife in Egypt. There should be an end to it to get out of the dangerous situation we have been through, and passing the constitution is the key answer.” The breaking news was on Thursday when the Salafist Nour Party announced that the party supports the new draft of the constitution and will vote for it. In a press conference the Nour Chairman Younis Makhyoun, said the country is passing through a tough time, and the party will choose “stability over chaos”, and will vote for the constitution. Later the party spokesman Nader Baker said the party had established a committee that will be responsible for launching a campaign that aims to mobilise voters in favour of the newly drafted constitution. “We will not use religious propaganda or attempt to influence voters religiously through our campaign. We are not a religious-based party, although we refer to Islam and Sharia as a higher reference in the constitution,” he said. He added that the Nour endorsed the draft constitution because it “preserves the Islamic identity of Egypt”. The majority of the liberal parties announced their participation in the referendum and urged support in favour of the constitution. The National Salvation Front (NSF) — an umbrella of secular political parties that helped to topple Morsi — announced that it supports the draft constitution and that its member will vote in favour of it. “We will launch a campaign next week that mobilises all Egyptians to vote for this constitution,” said Fouad Badri, a member in the NSF. “Passing this constitution is the first and most important step to realise the roadmap.” NSF member Wahid Abdel-Meguid said, “the front's campaign includes holding conferences on several levels as well as knocking on doors to inform people about the new constitution and explain its advantages from the front's perspective.” “The front will call on citizens to read the new draft constitution and participate in the referendum even if they disagree with it,” he added. The leftist Tagammu Party spokesman Nabil Zaki said the party started to print posters “to express a simple and brief message to citizens, to introduce the constitution and raise their awareness about principals like citizenship, transparency and governorace”. Zaki added that the party will participate in all NSF activities that supports the constitution. Mahmoud Al-Alaili, deputy chairman of the Free Egyptians Party supreme body, said the front leaders “have collectively announced through their parties their support for the yes vote considering that the success in rallying means the success of the constitution itself.” Most of the socialist parties announced they will campaign for the referendum. The head of the Popular Socialist Alliance Abdel-Ghaffar Shoukr said that the new constitution “suits the new Egypt, and the dispute over an article or two does not harm the constitution as a whole”. He described it as “one of the best Egyptian constitutions in history”. Shoukr added that the alliance plans to coordinate with other parties and political forces to call on citizens to vote for the constitution in a campaign that stretches across the country. The head of the Egyptian Socialist Party Ahmed Shaaban said he will vote for the constitution, although he added he does not entirely agree with all articles, “because it is the product of a revolutionary wave, but whatever needs to be amended can be done in the next parliament.” “This is, however, a better constitution than the 2012 version,” Shaaban said, especially with regards to public and private freedoms.” Popular Current spokesman Hossam Moenis said that the new constitution is the first step on the road to a democratic civil constitution. “There are objections, especially over the article allowing military trials for civilians, but the constitution as a whole achieves the minimum of ambitions,” Moenis said. Workers unions look like they will vote for the draft constitution. The Egyptian Trade Union Federation (ETUF) called upon its members to vote yes during a conference held on Sunday. The announcement came despite the removal of an article from the 1960s mandating that 50 per cent of parliamentary seats be reserved for farmers and labourers. ETUF Chairman Abdel-Fattah Ibrahim highlighted the union's dissatisfaction with the draft constitution but also said “the workers have a national duty to vote yes.” During the conference, several workers who were laid off interrupted the chairman's address and chanted against the constitution. On the other side of the fence, some political groups including the Strong Egypt Party, the 6 April youth movement, the Revolutionary Socialists, and No to Military Trials all announced their rejection of the newly amended constitution. They cited several articles, including allowing military trials for civilians, and another that requires the approval of the army to dismiss the defence minister. The Strong Egypt Party, led by former presidential hopeful and once Muslim Brotherhood leader Abdel-Moneim Abul-Fottouh said the party will call on people to vote against the amended constitution. In a statement released on Monday, the party said that members of the Committee of Fifty took the opinion of the interim government and its supporters rather than the natural diversity of the Egyptian people. “The committee working on amending the 2012 constitution did so while the society was fragmented, polarised and under an unelected authority. It became worse when the appointed committee worked secretly and without transparency and real social dialogue,” the statement added. The statement described the amended constitution as “distorted constitutional amendments”. It added that the party had earlier rejected the 2012 constitution issued under Morsi. “The new draft gives more powers to the president and weakens the legislature authority. It also allowed the single-winner system in parliamentary election,” the statement added. The statement said, “we believe it's our national duty to express our rejection towards all the previous incidents which started the deviation from democracy then imposed oppressive exceptional procedures.” Mohamed Al-Mohandis, a member of the Supreme Commission of the Strong Egypt Party, said his party voted against the 2012 constitution, “and for the same reasons will also reject the 2013 constitution, because there is no difference between them in form and content. Neither holds a vision for the future or a clear philosophy,” said. Former leader of 6 April Movement Ahmed Maher, who is currently on trial for being involved in violent activities, said the movement will campaign against the new constitution by staging rallies and conferences in the governorates. “The draft allows military trials for civilians, immunises Defence Minister Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi in office for eight years, while the articles on social justice are not sufficient enough to achieve the goals of the 25 January Revolution,” according to Sherif Al-Roubi, the spokesman of 6 April.
