Hundreds of thousands of Egyptians mobilized across the
country in opposition to the looming constitutional referendum on Tuesday.
Short distances away, supporters of the president also mobilized in large
numbers. The referendum is planned for this Saturday, December 15.
The exact numbers for either side weren’t yet available as
this was written but it is clear that the political crisis hasn’t eased for
President Mohammad Morsy and the Muslim Brotherhood from which he hails.
It did look at first like he might have been thrown a
lifeline as the State Council Judges’ Club – sort of a union of judges -
indicated that Egypt’s judges would oversee the referendum. However, general
assemblies of judges’ clubs across the country soon voted by about 90% to
refuse to supervise the vote.
FLIP FLOPS
The depth of the crisis was evidenced by constant flipflops
and contradictory announcements by the government in recent days. At the weekend it was leaked
by a presidential aide that Morsy would delay the vote. Then, apparently after
the intervention of the Muslim Brotherhood leadership, this was reversed and
the vote would go ahead as planned though the original decree granting Morsy near-absolute power was rescinded.
On Sunday Morsy’ office announced a series of tax increases
in line with the austerity plans required for Egypt to receive a loan from the
IMF. Within hours, at 2am Monday, this was reversed with Morsy’s office saying
that first there would need to be “societal consultations” on the taxes. Again, the
rumours are that the Brotherhood, through their political wing, the Freedom
& Justice Party, had intervened. The reason? It would be hard to win the
referendum vote if their support base had just seen further dramatic rises in the price
of numerous consumer goods, following on from recent eliminations of fuel subsidies.
Finally, on Tuesday, the Minister of Defense, announced
plans to hold a “national dialogue” for unity on Wednesday inviting political
groups, youth, sports figures, etc. without the consultation of the president.
Then the president’s office said this was a mistake and wasn’t happening. Then
the Muslim Brotherhood announced that it would be attending followed by more
confusion as to whether it was happening and who was behind it.
As of Tuesday night, with protests continuing and at least
one railroad blockaded by anti-referendum protestors in Mansoura and rumours that at least one
district would bar voting boxes, the government announced
that the referendum would go ahead. However, because of a lack of judges it
would happen over two Saturdays. Strangely, they also stated that the vote
results from the first half of the referendum would be announced before the
second half takes place, fatally undermining the democratic credibility.
Into this volatile mix has been thrown Morsy’s decrees
giving the military the power to arrest though later, in a partial reversal it was announced that those arrested would be tried in civilian courts. This won’t sit well with a population
that has recently overthrown a military dictatorship. Nor will Morsy’s decree
extending his control over the central bank at a time when his centralization
of power has mobilized millions against his government.
No matter what happens with the vote - if it goes ahead - this government is now mortally wounded and the hopes of the revolution of 2011 have been revived.
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