President Mohamed Morsi is expected to take to the airwaves today and address the nation — not just his Muslim Brotherhood and Salafi followers, to whom he spoke last Friday — and convince them he is committed to reconciliation.
The text of Morsi’s message was still being pondered on Wednesday. Its aim, though, was clear — to contain reactions to the constitutional declaration issued last Thursday in which Morsi effectively neutered the judiciary at a time when, courtesy of an earlier constitutional declaration, he already holds all legislative and executive power.
The president’s advisors and other informed sources agree Morsi will not rescind the constitutional declaration. What he will do depends on who is talking. Some say the most likely scenario is an early referendum on the controversial draft constitution being finalised by a Constituent Assembly that has lost a third of its members and as a consequence is dominated more than ever by Islamists. The move, they say, has the advantage of speeding up the de facto elimination of the constitutional declaration which places Morsi’s presidential decrees beyond judicial review.
Other scenarios revolve around the same trade off, exchanging a widely rejected constitutional declaration for a controversial constitution.
“If Morsi comes out to tell us we have to accept one unacceptable alternative or another that’s equally unacceptable then we will simply tell him that we have no interest in his offers. If he cannot offer anything better then we have no interest in him… He can leave as Mubarak left,” said Amal, a teacher with no partisan affiliation.
Chants calling on Morsi to step down were not the loudest in Tahrir Square, though they could be heard in Cairo as well as other governorates which witnessed violent clashes. And the fact that offices of both the Muslim Brotherhood and its political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), were attacked in a number of towns made the feelings of at least some of the demonstrators crystal clear.
If Morsi does not find a way out of the current quagmire soon, argues lawyer, activist and founding member of the Egyptian Current Islam Lotfi, then his presidency is in danger of sinking.
For thje complete report: Morsi’s-way-‘out’ - Al-Ahram Weekly
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