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Backing Off Added Powers, Egypt’s Leader Presses Vote Backing Off Added Powers, Egypt’s Leader Presses Vote
(about 3 hours later)
CAIRO — Struggling to quell protests and violence that have threatened to derail a vote on an Islamist-backed draft constitution, President Mohamed Morsi moved Saturday to appease his opponents with a package of concessions just hours after state media reported that he was moving toward imposing a form of martial law to secure the streets and allow the vote. CAIRO — Struggling to quell violent protests that have threatened to derail a referendum on an Islamist-backed draft constitution, President Mohamed Morsi moved Saturday to appease his opponents with a package of concessions hours after state media reported that he was moving toward imposing a form of martial law to secure the streets and allow the vote.
Mr. Morsi did not budge on a critical demand of the opposition: that he postpone a referendum set for Saturday to approve the new constitution. His Islamist supporters say the charter will lay the foundation for a new democracy and a return to stability. But liberal groups have faulted it for inadequate protection of individual rights and loopholes that could enable Muslim religious authorities to wield new influence and they are asking for a thorough overhaul. Mr. Morsi did not budge on a critical demand of the opposition: that he postpone the referendum set for Saturday to allow a thorough overhaul of the proposed charter. Liberal groups have faulted it for inadequate protection of individual rights and provisions that could some day give Muslim religious authorities new influence.
But in a midnight news conference, his prime minister said Mr. Morsi was offering concessions that he had appeared to dismiss out of hand a few days before. He rescinded most of his sweeping Nov. 22 decree that temporarily elevated his decisions above judicial review and offered a convoluted arrangement for the factions to agree in advance on future constitutional amendments that would be added after passage. But in a midnight news conference, his prime minister said Mr. Morsi was offering concessions that he had appeared to dismiss out of hand a few days before. The president rescinded most of his sweeping Nov. 22 decree that temporarily elevated his decisions above judicial review and drew tens of thousands of protesters into the streets calling for his downfall. He also offered a convoluted arrangement for the factions to negotiate constitutional amendments this week that would be added to the charter after the vote.
His approach, rolled out throughout a confusing day, appeared to indicate a determination to do whatever it takes to get to the referendum. Amid growing concerns among his advisers that the Interior Ministry may be unable to secure either the polls or the institutions of government in the face of violent protests against Mr. Morsi, the state media reported early Saturday that he was moving toward ordering the armed forces to keep order and authorizing its solders to arrest civilians. Taken together, the announcements, rolled out over a confusing day, appeared to indicate the president’s determination to do whatever it takes to get to the referendum. His Islamist supporters say the constitution will lay the foundation of a new democracy and a return to stability.
Mr. Morsi has not yet formally issued the order reported in the state newspaper Al Ahram, raising the possibility that the announcement was intended as a warning to his opponents. His moves held out little hope of fully resolving the standoff, in part because even before his concessions were announced opposition leaders had ruled out any rushed attempt at a compromise just days before the referendum. Amid growing concerns among his advisers that the Interior Ministry might be unable to secure either the polls or the institutions of government in the face of renewed violent protests against Mr. Morsi, the state media reported early Saturday that he would soon order the armed forces to keep order and authorize its solders to arrest civilians.
“No mind would accept dialogue at gunpoint,” said Mohamed Abu El Ghar, an opposition leader, alluding to previously floated ideas about last-minute negotiations between factions for amendments. In recent days, mobs have attacked more than two dozen Muslim Brotherhood offices and ransacked its headquarters and more than seven people have died in street fighting between Islamists and their opponents.
Nor did his Islamist allies expect his proposals to succeed. Many have said they concluded that much of the secular opposition is primarily interested in obstructing the transition to democracy at all costs, mainly to block the Islamists’ electoral victory. Instead, some privately relished the bind they believed Mr. Morsi had built for the opposition by giving in to some demands and thus, they said privately, forcing their secular opponents to admit they were afraid to take their case to the ballot box. As of early Sunday, Mr. Morsi had not yet formally issued such an order calling out the military, raising the possibility that the announcement was intended as a warning to tell his opponents their protests would not derail the vote.
The military appeared for now to back Mr. Morsi. Midday, a military spokesman read a statement over state television saying the military “realizes its national responsibility for maintaining the supreme interests of the nation and securing and protecting the vital targets, public institutions, and the interests of the innocent citizens.” The moves Saturday offered little hope of fully resolving the standoff, in part because even before his concessions were announced, opposition leaders had ruled out any rushed attempt at a compromise just days before the referendum.
Since Mr. Morsi’s decree granting himself sweeping powers until the ratification of a new constitution, there has been an extraordinary breakdown in Egyptian civic life that has destroyed almost any remaining trust between the rival Islamist and secular factions. “No mind would accept dialogue at gunpoint,” said Mohamed Abu El Ghar, an opposition leader, alluding to previously floated ideas about last-minute talks for amendments.
Mr. Morsi had insisted that he needed unchecked power to protect against the threat that judges appointed by the ousted president, Hosni Mubarak, might dissolve the constitutional assembly. Nor did his Islamist allies expect his proposals to succeed. Many have said they concluded that much of the secular opposition is primarily interested in obstructing the transition to democracy at all costs, to try to block the Islamists from winning elections. Instead, some of the president’s supporters privately relished the bind they believed Mr. Morsi had built for the opposition by giving in to some demands and thus forcing their secular opponents to admit they were afraid to take their case to the ballot box.
But his claim to such unlimited power for even a limited period struck those suspicious of the Islamists as a possible return to autocracy. It recalled broken promises from the Muslim Brotherhood that it would not dominate the parliamentary election or seek the presidency. And his decree set off an immediate backlash. The military appeared to back Mr. Morsi. Soon after the state newspaper Al Ahram suggested the president would move toward martial law, a military spokesman read a statement over state television that echoed Mr. Morsi’s own speeches.
Hundreds of thousands of protesters accusing Mr. Morsi and his Islamist allies of monopolizing power have poured into the streets. Demonstrators have also attacked more than two dozen Brotherhood offices around the country, including its headquarters, and judges declared a national strike. The military “realizes its national responsibility for maintaining the supreme interests of the nation and securing and protecting the vital targets, public institutions and the interests of the innocent citizens,” the spokesman said, warning of “divisions that threaten the state of Egypt.”
In response, Mr. Morsi’s Islamist allies in the assembly rushed out a draft constitution over the boycotts and objections of the secular minority and the Coptic Christian Church. Then, worried that the Interior Ministry might fail to protect the presidential palace from sometimes-violent demonstrations outside, Mr. Morsi turned to the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist groups to defend it, resulting in a night of street fighting that killed at least six and wounded hundreds in the worst clashes between political factions since Gamal Abdel Nasser’s coup, six decades ago. “Dialogue is the best and sole way to reach consensus that achieves the interests of the nation and the citizens,” he added. “Anything other than that puts us in a dark tunnel with drastic consequences, which is something that we will not allow.”
The draft charter, ultimately rushed out almost exclusively with Islamist support, stops short of the liberals’ worst fears about the imposition of religious rule. But it leaves loopholes and ambiguities that liberals fear Islamists could later use to empower religious groups or restrict individual freedoms. If Mr. Morsi goes through with the plan, it would represent a historic role reversal. For six decades, Egypt’s military backed authoritarian presidents who used martial law to hold on to power and to jail Islamists like Mr. Morsi, a former leader of the Muslim Brotherhood. It would also come just four months after he managed to pry power out of the hands of the country’s top generals, who had seized control when Hosni Mubarak was ousted last year and held on to it for three months even after Mr. Morsi’s election.
Mr. Morsi’s political allies, in turn, accuse their secular opponents of seeking to scrap democracy because the Islamists won, recalling the Algerian military coup staged in the early 1990s to abort the first Sunni Islamist electoral victory in the region. The announcement of impending martial law marked the steepest escalation yet in the political battle between Egypt’s new Islamist leaders and their secular opponents over the draft constitution.
On Saturday, before Mr. Morsi made his concessions, the flagship state newspaper Al Ahram reported that Mr. Morsi “will soon issue a decision for the participation of the armed forces in the duties of maintaining security and protection of vital state institutions.” The military would maintain its expanded role until the completion of a referendum on a draft constitution Saturday and the election of a new Parliament expected two months after that. Mr. Morsi had reached for the Nov. 22 decree that set off the crisis, he said, in order to prevent the Mubarak-era courts from dissolving the constitutional assembly and upending the transition to democracy. The terms of his concession were ill-defined; the new decree Mr. Morsi issued Saturday night said he retained the limited authority to issue “constitutional declarations” protecting the draft charter that judges could not overturn. Although the plan for martial law outlined in Al Ahram would not fully suspend civil law, it would nonetheless have the effect of suspending legal rights by empowering soldiers under the control of the defense minister to try civilians in military courts.
It was unclear whether he planned to go through with such an order or not. Calling in the army could overcome the danger of protests or violence that might disrupt the planned referendum and the election of a new parliament to follow. But resorting to the military to secure the vote could undermine Mr. Morsi’s hopes that a strong showing for the constitution would be seen as a sign of national consensus that could help end the political crisis.
If he did, it would represent a historic role reversal. For decades, Egypt’s military-backed authoritarian presidents had used martial law to hold on to power and to punish Islamists like Mr. Morsi, who spent months in jail under a similar decree. A turn back to the military would also come just four months after Mr. Morsi managed to pry political power out of the hands of the country’s powerful generals, who led a transitional government. Brotherhood officials cheered the military’s statements, noting they closely resembled the president’s own speeches about a “national dialogue” and its emphasis on moving forward toward democracy.
But Moataz Abdel-Fattah, a former adviser to Egypt’s transitional prime minister who is close to Defense Minister Abdul Fattah el-Sisi, argued that the military also sought to make clear it was not joining either camp.
“The military is saying, ‘Do not let things get so bad that we have to intervene,’ ” Mr. Abdel-Fattah said. “In the short term it is good for President Morsi, but in the long run they are also saying, ‘We belong to the people, and not Mr. Morsi or his opponents.’ ”
After taking office Mr. Morsi spent months courting the generals, sometimes earning the derision of liberal activists for his public flattery of their role. And the constitution his supporters eventually drew up included protections of the military’s autonomy and privileges within the Egyptian government, despite the protests of the same activists.
The provisions suggested an understanding between the military and Mr. Morsi that may now allow him to call on the generals’ help.
Under the president’s planned martial law order, Al Ahram said, the military would return to its barracks after parliamentary elections expected to take place two months after the referendum if the constitution is approved.
If the military does secure the polls, that would appear to undermine the opposition’s argument — made as recently as Saturday afternoon — that the latest unrest had all but ruled out next week’s referendum.
“Under the present circumstance how can you conduct a referendum or an election, when chaos is reigning and you have protests everywhere?” asked Amr Moussa, a former foreign minister under Mr. Mubarak and now an opposition leader.