Egypt charter dispute triggers protest call

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CAIRO: Egypt’s opposition called for mass protests on Tuesday over alleged polling violations after Islamists backing President Mohamed Morsi claimed victory in the first round of a referendum on a new charter.


A group of top judges, meanwhile, announced on Monday it would boycott supervision of the second round, and Germany said it has postponed debt relief for Egypt because of concerns over the country’s commitment to democracy.

Adding to the complications for Morsi, the prosecutor general named by the president as he temporarily assumed sweeping powers last month handed in his resignation, a judicial source said.

The Supreme Judicial Council will examine prosecutor general Talaat Ibrahim Abdallah’s resignation next Sunday, a day after the second and final round of voting in the referendum, the source said.

The opposition coalition, the National Salvation Front, urged Egyptians to “take to the streets on Tuesday to . . . reject the draft constitution” ahead of the second round.

It claimed “irregularities and violations” marred the initial stage of the referendum last weekend across half of Egypt that Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood said resulted in a 57 percent “yes” vote, according to its unofficial tally.

On the legal front, the State Council Judges Club, whose members took part in overseeing the first round as required by law, said it would boycott next Saturday’s vote because the authorities had failed to live up to their promises.

The association has demanded that a “siege” of the Supreme Constitutional Court by Brotherhood supporters be lifted. But the action has continued without any intervention by the authorities, it said.

In Germany, a spokesman for the overseas development ministry said a plan to forgive up to 240 million euros or $316 million of Cairo’s debt had been delayed indefinitely.

Germany’s Development Minister Dirk Niebel said earlier he had serious reservations. “There is the danger that the dictatorial system of ousted president [Hosni] Mubarak is returning,” he told the daily Berliner Zeitung.