A key component to ending Morsi's executive decree that gives him near universal power in Egypt is almost ready for him to approve. Except that everyone who doesn't agree with Morsi still hates it.
One of the main goals that Morsi explained would being an end to his executive decree granting him legal power over the courts is Egpyt adopting a new constitution. Thursday evening, the panel of Islamists in charge of writing the constitution announced they finished their draft and are forwarding it to the President on Friday. Morsi will then approve it and send it to a nation-wide referendum. Morsi's popularity is pretty low right now, so the chances it's approved are pretty slim.
While the new constitution has some of the things the revolution wanted in the post-Mubarak era -- like protections from torture -- there are still some problems with it. "But it would also give Egypt’s generals much of the power and privilege they had during the Mubarak era and would reject the demands of ultraconservative Salafis to impose puritanical moral codes," The New York Times' David Kirkpatrick explains.
There's also the tiny little problem that Islamists were the only ones represented on the panel. All the representatives from Egypt's other religions walked away from the process after Morsi's decree. And, surprise! They hate it.
The new constitution is so loopy on human rights issues that Egyptians won't be able to flame each other on Twitter, or in public, anymore. "There are some good pro-freedoms articles, but there are also catastrophic articles like one that prevents insults," activist Gamal Eid told Reuters.
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