Egyptians will vote on the newly-drafted constitution against a backdrop of Muslim Brotherhood violence and political divisions. Although Amr Moussa, chairman of the 50-member committee which drafted the new constitution, presented interim President Adli Mansour with the final copy on 3 December, Mansour has not yet set a date for the referendum. Many commentators expect he will do so today or early next week at the latest. Ambiguity in the wording of Article 30 of last July's constitutional declaration has been blamed for the delay. The article states “the president of the republic must call a referendum within 30 days from the date the constitution is officially submitted to him.” Prime Minister Hazem Al-Beblawi said two weeks ago that the president is required simply to set a date for the referendum within a month of receiving the charter. Al-Beblawi added that he expected the referendum to be held in the second half of January. Mohamed Salmawy, official spokesman of the 50-member committee, argues that “the text of Article 30 is clear… the referendum must be held within a month or before 2 January.” An informed source says “Mansour's constitutional and legal advisers agree that the president is not required by Article 30 to invite citizens to vote on the new constitution within one month of its receipt and the likelihood is that the referendum will be held in the second week of January.” Judge Hisham Mokhtar says Mansour will issue a decree inviting citizens to vote on the new constitution “any day now”. “The referendum itself will be held in two stages, each beginning at 9am and ending by 9pm.” Nabil Salib, Chairman of Cairo's Appeal Court and head of the Supreme Elections Committee (SEC), said on Sunday that more than 15,000 judges will take charge in monitoring the referendum. “They will supervise 15,300 main and auxiliary polling stations and revise voter lists,” said Salib. “The number of eligible voters in Egypt has risen from 51.9 million in 2012 to 53 million,” reports Abu Bakr Al-Guindi, chairman of the General Mobilisation and Statistics Agency. He predicts a high turnout, with more than 65 per cent of registered voters likely to go to the polls. Salmawy has warned that “thousands of copies are circulating of what claims to be the newly-drafted constitution but which are in fact inaccurate.” “These copies include several linguistic mistakes and exclude articles 229 and 230.” “The state-owned General Egyptian Book Organisation has been commissioned to print thousands of new copies of the final and correct draft,” adds Salmawy. “Each page of the publication will have been signed off by Amr Moussa and the booklet will include all the amendments introduced by the committee in its last two days — 30 November and 1 December — of voting on articles.” Copies of the charter currently in circulation have annoyed a number of political and religious factions. Bishop Paula, the committee's representative of the Coptic Church, said “members of the committee voted that the preamble of the constitution state ‘Egypt is now writing a constitution aimed at completing the building of a modern democratic state with a civil system of government.' “We were surprised to find that the words ‘with a civil system of government' had been changed into ‘with a civilian government'.” Committee member Mohamed Ghoneim says “we all agreed during a closed-door meeting that the preamble include the words ‘with a civil system of government' and were taken aback when the chairman of the committee, Amr Moussa, read the words ‘civilian government' at the vote meeting.” Moussa has issued a statement saying there is no difference between the two phrases. Both, he says, serve to stress Egypt is not a religious state. Whatever the fine quibbling over semantics, Prime Minister Al-Beblawi urges those who took to the streets on 30 June to turn out in their millions to vote “yes” for the new constitution. “It is no time for indifference,” says the veteran liberal economist. “There is no excuse to stay at home and not vote.”
Secular forces are mobilising behind a “yes” vote. The Tamarod campaign has already launched a “know your constitution” drive. Grand Mufti Shawki Allam has announced the constitution is balanced and has urged citizens to vote “yes”. Egyptian churches insist that they are not offering advice on how their congregations should vote though most anticipate massive support for the new charter. Constitutional law experts differ over what would happen should the charter fail to win a resounding yes vote. “If rejected Egypt will continue to be governed by the 8 July declaration,” says professor of constitutional law Mohamed Nour Farahat. “The president might then call for a national dialogue in order to create a broader consensus over a new constitution.” Tahani Al-Gibali, a former judge on the Supreme Constitutional Court, argues that if the constitution is rejected — “a big setback for the 30 June Revolution” — the 1971 constitution, as amended in March 2011 will form an interim charter until parliamentary and presidential elections are held. A number of legal experts argue there are no obstacles to presidential elections being held before parliamentary polls now that Article 230 has been amended. Some even want the post-30 June roadmap to be curtailed and parliamentary and presidential elections held on one day. According to business tycoon Naguib Sawiris “this will save time and costs and help the country move forward quickly.” Meanwhile, a coalition of Islamists led by the Muslim Brotherhood is asking the public to reject the constitution. The National Alliance in Support of Legitimacy describes the charter as “absurd” and “illegal”. Al-Ahram political analyst Emad Gad notes that “the Muslim Brotherhood has resorted to increased violence ahead of the anticipated referendum.” “It is now clear that the closer Egypt comes to ridding itself of Morsi's legacy the greater is the Brotherhood's resort to violence.” “After losing the battle on city streets the Brotherhood turned to its student cadres, especially at Al-Azhar, to ratchet up confrontations,” says Gad. “The Brotherhood has devoted years to infiltrating universities and Al-Azhar proved particularly fertile ground for their recruitment campaigns.” Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim warned on Monday that “on the day of the referendum security forces would not hesitate in using force to disperse riots and confront violence.” The Brotherhood was dealt a major blow to any hopes of a united Islamist front after the Salafist Nour Party announced it would throw itself behind a “yes” vote. “The Nour's support of the constitution makes it very difficult for the Brotherhood to play its usual religious card or to claim the text favours secularists and infidels,” says Gad. Graffiti has recently appeared on Cairo's streets urging citizens to reject “a constitution drafted for belly-dancers”.
