"The declaration meets the requirements of the current period and will expire as soon as a new constitution is approved through a popular referendum," said President Mohamed Mursi in his state TV interview aired yesterday night.
The decree made all of Mursi's decisions immune from judicial oversight until the new constitution is ratified and a new Parliament is elected. He added he had "sensed a danger to the nation" and had to conduct "a very careful surgery" to address the situation, the president told his interviewers.
Social media users said Mursi was cornering the people to either accept the constitution which was drafted by Islamists or live with a president who will be a powerful dictator by virtue of this declaration.
Ironically, the general guide of the Muslim Brotherhood Mohmmad Badie accused remnants of the former regime of fueling the crisis to delay democracy, including disrupting the completion of the country's new constitution.
"It started with dissolving the Parliament that came from free elections that 30 million people took part in," Badie said. "Now they want to dissolve the Constituent Assembly," he said.
The Constituent Assembly, which was formed in June, began voting on the final draft constitution yesterday amid objections from secular political forces. Representatives from the church and several civil forces have withdrawn from the Constituent Assembly in protest against its Islamist dominance. (More)