Egypt’s opposition plans new protests on Tuesday against a planned Islamist-backed constitution that looks set to be approved in the second round of a referendum next weekend.
Islamist President Mohamed Mursi obtained a 57 percent «yes» vote for the constitution in initial voting on Saturday, his party said, less than he had hoped for.
The result is likely to embolden the opposition, which says the law is too Islamist, although the second round is expected to result in another «yes,» while underlining the deep divisions that have riven Egypt since Hosni Mubarak’s fall.
Today, protesters broke out into cheers when the public prosecutor Mursi appointed just last month announced his resignation. They said it was a victory for the independence of the judiciary.
But they are unlikely to win Saturday’s referendum second round, to be held in districts seen as even more sympathetic towards Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood, which won elections held after Mubarak was ousted in February 2011.
The opposition National Salvation Front said there were widespread voting violations in the first round of the referendum vote and urged organisers to ensure that the second round was properly supervised.
It has called for protests across Egypt on Tuesday «to stop forgery and bring down the invalid draft constitution» and wants organisers to re-run the first round of voting.
In Cairo, the Front plans to hold demonstrations at Tahrir Square, cradle of the revolution that toppled Mubarak, and outside Mursi’s presidential palace, still ringed with tanks after earlier protests.
«Down with the constitution of the Brotherhood,» the Front said in a statement. «Down with the constitution of tyranny.»
The build-up to the first round saw clashes between supporters and opponents of Mursi in which eight people died. Demonstrations in Cairo have been more peaceful, although rival factions clashed on Friday in Alexandria, Egypt’s second biggest city.
Today, more than 1,300 members of the General Prosecution gathered outside the office of Public Prosecutor Talaat Ibrahim to demand that he leave his post.
Hours later, Ibrahim announced he had resigned and the crowd cheered, «God is Great! Long live justice!» and «Long live the independence of the judiciary!» witnesses said.
Official results of the referendum will come only after the second round, but one newspaper calculated that out of every 100 Egyptians, 18 voted «yes», 13 voted «no» and the rest did not participate, buttressing opposition claims that Mursi had failed to secure real backing.
The closeness of the first-round tally and low turnout give Mursi scant comfort as he seeks to assemble support for difficult economic reforms to reduce the budget deficit.
He will hold a further round of national unity talks with political leaders on Tuesday, but the National Salvation Front is expected to stay away, as it has in the past.
Source: Buenos Aires Herald