Morsi wants to hold referendum
The President's speech will not calm the spirits

Added on December 7, 2012 at 18:15 CET
President Morsy /Moris has not achieved his goal with yesterday's speech. Almost all opposition parties refuse his invitation for dialogue since the president wants to put through the referendum and only wants to get rid of his extra powers after the vote. Both camps remain inflexible.

Article added on December 7, 2012 at 00:18 CET  
The never-ending Egyptian revolution continues. President Morsi's speech on December 6, 2012 did not have the potential to calm the spirits. Morsi invited legal experts and opposition figures to meet him on Saturday at 12:30 local time “to come up with a solution that shall save the nation; some decisions will be discussed, such as maintaining the Shura Council”. He insisted that “violence is not the solution” and that “the only solution is dialogue” while manifesting his will to hold the referendum on the new constitution as planned on December 15, 2012.

The president said: “We respect peaceful freedom of expression but will never allow killings and sabotage. I will not allow plans to murder and vandalize and terrorize citizens.” Morsi continued: “The issuing of the constitutional declaration stirred up opposition, which was acceptable, but those who brought arms and hired thugs to wreak havoc must be punished.”

If the constitution should be rejected, a new Constituent Assembly would be drawn up, President Morsi announced. “We shall also discuss the roadmap after the referendum, whether the people reject or approve it.” Unfortunately, the opposition wants the president to withdrew his constitutional declaration, and the opposition wants changes to the constitution before the referendum.

Furthermore, on December 5, 2012 the new general prosecutor, Talaat Ibrahim Abdullah, put in place by President Morsi, had ordered a probe against former presidential candidates, including Hamdeen Sabbahi, Mohamed ElBaradei and Amr Mussa, accusing them of espionage and trying to overthrow the regime. Shall the opposition be silenced?

Another danger for a democratic development of Egypt resides in the articles in the new constitution that will put the military as a separate power above the law. If the unrest continues, but the referendum passes through, a subsequent military coup becomes a dangerous possibility, at least in the long run, because the call for stability will grow stronger the longer the violent clashes continue.

In the past days, several of the president's advisers have resigned. So has the Coptic Vice-President of the Party for Freedom and Justice. Has President Morsi lost his calm? Where is his consensual approach? Both sides, neither the Muslim Brotherhood nor the opposition, seem to know what they are doing. Instability plays into the hands of the military as well as the old regime.

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