Egyptian President Gives Army Police Powers Ahead of Vote

Egyptian President Gives Army Police Powers Ahead of Vote

Egyptian opposition groups will today march to Mohamed Mursi’s presidential palace to demand the revocation of a draft constitution, as counter-rallies planned by his Islamist supporters raised the prospect of more violence.

The opposition says the charter, due to be put before voters in a Dec. 15 referendum, was drafted by an Islamist- dominated panel and fails to safeguard rights and freedoms. It’s demanding the cancellation of the vote. Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood, which supports the constitution, is mobilizing supporters for a pro-Mursi rally today.

Today’s marches risk a repeat of clashes last week between the rival camps, in which eight people died. Anti-Mursi demonstrators staging a sit-in in Cairo’s Tahrir Square were attacked by unidentified people in the early hours of today, leaving 16 injured by birdshot, the state-run Ahram Gate website reported, citing a local doctor.

Mursi yesterday told the army to help police ensure security, after weeks of political tensions and street protests sparked by the president’s Nov. 22 decree expanding his powers, and his refusal to alter the referendum timetable. The unrest threatens to derail Egypt’s efforts to establish a stable democracy after last year’s uprising against Hosni Mubarak, and revive an economy that has been largely stalled since then.

‘Preserve Security’

The military will play a role alongside police “to preserve security and protect vital state institutions” until the results of the referendum are announced, including the ability to arrest civilians, the state-run Middle East News Agency said.

The decision by Mursi to give the army policing powers was criticized by Amnesty International, which called it a “dangerous precedent,” and by Human Rights Watch. The U.S. is “deeply concerned” by developments and wants to see “those who are charged with maintaining security do so in a manner that respects human rights and freedom of expression,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters in Washington.

Army personnel are guarding the presidential palace. The Republican Guard stepped up security around its walls before today’s march, and will close roads and block routes to the compound with barbed wire, state-run Ahram Online reported.

Mahmoud Ghozlan, the Muslim Brotherhood’s spokesman, told Ahram Gate yesterday that supporters of the president should not head there during today’s rally, which he said will end at 10 p.m.

‘Absolute Failure’

“The regime has so far shown absolute failure in handling the situation or offering the opposition any real compromises,” said Ziad Akl, a senior analyst at Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo. “If the regime pressed ahead with its plan to hold the referendum on time -- and all the signs point to that -- I’d expect new episodes of violence.”

Mursi’s reversal on Dec. 9 of the decree expanding his powers failed to defuse the tensions. The government also suspended a decision to raise sales and income taxes as part of an economic program set out after negotiations with the International Monetary Fund, local newspapers reported yesterday.

Finance Minister Momtaz El-Saieed said in a phone interview today that Egypt will ask the IMF board to delay a decision on the $4.8 billion loan application until January. The board had been scheduled to discuss it on Dec. 19.

Pound Declines

Egypt’s benchmark stock index pared losses today, adding 0.7 percent at 1:30 p.m. in Cairo. The measure is down almost 8 percent since Nov. 22. The Egyptian pound, subject to a managed float, extended its decline today and has lost 1 percent since Mursi’s Nov. 22 edict, as much as it fell in the previous 11 months.

Opposition groups including the Strong Egypt Party, the Social Democratic Party and the April 6 youth movement have urged their supporters to vote “No” to the charter. Many secular and Christian members of the panel that drafted it withdrew from the body saying their views were ignored.

Holding a referendum amid such political turmoil “reflects the recklessness and blatant lack of responsibility of a regime that risks pushing the country toward violent confrontations,” the National Salvation Front, the broadest umbrella group for the opposition, said in an e-mailed statement.

Ghozlan said the Brotherhood’s supporters are “mobilizing to say yes to legitimacy and the regime,” and ascribed the violence to “the opposition and their paid thugs.”