Mohammed Morsi sought to present the Islamist-drafter charter as the turning of a historic page for Egypt, but his speech did little to ease the suspicions of those who fear he and his Muslim Brotherhood are entrenching their power. He offered no concrete gestures to an opposition that has so far rejected his dialogue and vowed to fight the constitution.

Instead, with a triumphalist tone, he presented the constitution, which was approved by nearly 64 percent of voters in a referendum that ended last weekend, as creating a democracy with balanced powers between branches of government and political freedoms.

"We don't want to return to an era of one opinion and fake, manufactured majorities. The maturity and consciousness (of voters) heralds that Egypt has set on a path of democracy with no return," Morsi said. "Regardless of the results, for the sake of building the nation, efforts must unite. There is no alternative to a dialogue that is now a necessity."

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At once, he is both Egypt’s first-ever democratically elected leader and a divisive figure with unprecedented powers. He swiftly ended, in one simple stroke in August, six decades of military rule. And he has since plunged the country into its deepest political crisis in years.

As an energetic, street-led opposition forms against Morsi’s recent moves — including a decree that granted him wide authority and the hurried passage of a controversial draft constitution — the former Muslim Brotherhood leader has lurched through the crisis with a series of mercurial and sometimes contradictory statements that have done little to temper the unrest.

His erratic leadership style, heavily influenced by the Brotherhood, is now in the spotlight as the future of Egypt hangs in the balance.

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The constitution's critics however may contest the outcome. A spokesman for the main opposition group which has been campaigning for a "no" vote said there were "a lot" of irregularities in the voting.

The Brotherhood's unofficial results come a day before the election commission is expected to announce the final official tally for voting organized over two weeks. The group has accurately tallied the outcome of past elections.

The passage of the constitution would be a victory for Islamist President Mohammed Morsi. The Freedom and Justice Party, the Brotherhood's political arm, said in a statement that it hoped the passage is a "historic opportunity" to heal Egypt's divisions and launch a dialogue to restore stability and build state institutions.

But the comparatively low turnout of 32 percent of eligible voters, as well as allegations by the opposition of voting violations, threatened to undermine the constitution's legitimacy and keep Egypt polarized.

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You may have heard this refrain. You may have even sung it yourself. So let's look at this question for a moment: Are atheists subjected to real discrimination?

It's certainly true that, in the United States, while atheists do experience real discrimination, it's typically not as severe as, say, racism or misogyny. Or rather, since I don't think comparing discriminations is usually all that useful: Anti-atheist discrimination takes different forms. It's not like the systematic economic apartheid African-Americans experience, or the systematic enforcement of rigid gender roles women experience. It takes other forms: such as social ostracism; bullying in schools; public schools denying atheist students the right to form clubs; religious proselytizing promoted by the government; widespread perceptions of atheists as untrustworthy; businesses denying equal access to atheists and atheist organizations; government promotion of religion in social service programs; government promotion of religion in the military. And it's true that atheists have significant legal protection in the United States: people sometimes break those laws, and those laws aren't always enforced, but we do have these laws, and they do help.

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Representatives of seven rights groups charged that there was insufficient supervision by judges in Saturday's vote in 10 of Egypt's 27 provinces and independent monitors were prevented from witnessing vote counts.

The representatives told a news conference that they had reports of individuals falsely identifying themselves as judges, of women prevented from voting and that members of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood were allowed inside polling stations. They also complained that some polling centers closed earlier than scheduled and that Christians were denied entry to polling stations.

Mohamed ElBaradei, Egypt's best known reform leader, was as frustrated by how the referendum was run as the rights groups.

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The opposition's decision did not dispel the atmosphere of a nation in crisis, deeply polarized over the referendum that has stoked three weeks of turmoil on the streets. The opposition still plans more protests and the country's judges are still on strike over a decree by Morsi, since rescinded, that placed him above judicial oversight. The military is inching back into politics. And if the referendum passes, there is potential for even greater upheaval.

There are also growing concerns about the already flailing economy Egypt on Tuesday requested a postponement of a $4.8 billion IMF loan after Morsi, fearing a popular backlash at a time of already heightened tensions, suspended a package of tax hikes that had been part of a program to reduce the huge budget deficit.

The opposition said it still may boycott the vote starting in Egypt on Saturday if its conditions are not met.

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They have launched a concerted campaign against military bases and the international airport, within an arc of opposition strongholds that now encircle the capital.

After recent rebel attacks on military checkpoints and bases along the 15-mile highway between southwest Damascus and the international airport prompted the airport’s two-day closure, authorities last week insisted Syria’s only international commercial airline hub had reopened.

But a GlobalPost reporter trying to drive on the highway toward the airport was stopped by Syrian soldiers who said the road was closed because they could not guarantee safe passage.

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All this seemed to many to be a rough replay of the 1979 Iranian Revolution.
Yet, as the mass demonstrations against the Muslim Brotherhood recently in Tahrir Square and across Egypt have shown, an Islamic Egypt, while still likely, is far from inevitable.

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Egypt's opposition coalition have called for more protests, following tense altercations last week when Muslim Brotherhood supporters clashed violently with opposition protesters at the heavily guarded gates of presidential palace in Cairo. In a move disturbingly reminiscent of Mubarak's authoritarian leadership, the government Sunday granted the army the right to arrest citizens to safeguard the disputed referendum.

Some ambiguity remains over whether opposition groups will rally behind a boycott of the referendum or a push for "no" votes. Scholars and commentators point out too that it may not be the draft constitution itself at the heart of Egypt's current crisis, but rather the process through which the referendum has been foisted on the people.

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A military statement warning of “disastrous” consequences should the standoff continue was widely interpreted as pushing President Mohammed Morsi to compromise and meet the opposition halfway over a draft constitution and the near-absolute powers he gave himself.

A direct military intervention to stave off bloodshed would likely enjoy the paradoxical and tacit support, at least initially, of some pro-democracy activists mortified by the authoritarian bent and Islamist ambitions of the freely elected Muslim Brotherhood-backed government.

Egypt’s military, which had been the nation’s de facto ruler since army officers seized power in a 1952 coup, remains the country’s most powerful institution. But it has kept a low profile since Morsi ordered the retirement of its top two officers in August and canceled a constitutional declaration that gave it legislative powers when parliament’s law-making chamber was dissolved by a court ruling.

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The announcement, made by the head of Egypt's election committee, Ismail Hamdi, came a day after Morsi appealed for dialogue even as he accused tens of thousands of protesters marching on his palace of being infiltrated by thugs. He has so far made no concrete concessions to defuse the crisis that has plunged the country into new turmoil, and the two sides appeared to be at a deadlock.

Egypt's political crisis has been building up since Morsi issued a decree on Nov. 22 that gave him absolute powers and immunity from judicial oversight.

The crisis intensified when Morsi called for a Dec. 15 national referendum on the draft constitution produced by the Islamist-led constituent assembly after rushing it in a marathon session. Liberals had quit the assembly, which was already facing legal appeals to disband it. The draft came with loopholes and was infused with articles that liberals fear would pave the way for Islamizing Egypt.

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She was a supporter of Egypt’s ousted dictator, Hosni Mubarak, and opposed the 2011 revolution.

But all that changed Tuesday night, when she joined tens of thousands of Egyptians outside the presidential palace to protest Mohamed Morsi’s new, wide-ranging powers.

Ebeid, who works for Nokia, stayed for the demonstration Wednesday night too. That protest turned violent. Clashes erupted between those for and against Morsi, leaving at least six people dead and 650 injured.

It was Egypt’s fiercest street battle since Morsi assumed office in June. On Thursday, Morsi sent in tanks to disperse the crowd.

“I never went down to Tahrir to protest with the revolutionaries because I’ve always been felool,” Ebeid said, using an Arabic word that has evolved into a derogatory term meaning “remnants” or supporters of the Mubarak regime. “But right now we have the same goal. I want Morsi out.”

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The intensity of the overnight violence, with Morsi's Islamist backers and largely secular protesters lobbing firebombs and rocks at each other, signaled a possible turning point in the 2-week-old crisis over the president's assumption of near-absolute powers and the hurried adoption of a draft constitution.

Opposition activists defiantly called for another protest outside the palace later Thursday, raising the specter of more bloodshed as neither side showed willingness to back down.

But the army's Republican Guard, an elite unit assigned to protect the president and his palaces, gave protesters on both sides until 3 p.m. (1300 GMT, 8 a.m. EDT) to clear the vicinity, according to an official statement. The statement also announced a ban on protests outside any of the nation's presidential palaces.

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Mohamed ElBaradei, a leading opposition advocate of reform and democracy, said Morsi's rule was "no different" from that of former President Hosni Mubarak, whose authoritarian regime was toppled in an uprising nearly two years ago.

"In fact, it is perhaps even worse," the Nobel Peace Laureate told a news conference after he accused the president's supporters of a "vicious and deliberate" attack on peaceful demonstrators.

The opposition is demanding Morsi rescind decrees giving him near unrestricted powers and shelve a disputed draft constitution that the president's Islamist allies passed hurriedly last week.

The dueling demonstrations and violence are part of a political crisis that has left the country divided into two camps: Islamists versus an opposition made up of youth groups, liberal parties and large sectors of the public. Both sides have dug in their heels, signaling a protracted standoff.

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The violence erupted when protesters pushed aside a barricade topped with barbed wire several hundred yards from the palace walls. Police fired tear gas, and then retreated. There were no immediate reports on casualties.

Tuesday's march comes amid rising anger over a hurriedly adopted draft constitution by President Mohammed Morsi's allies and decrees giving him sweeping powers. Morsi called for a referendum on the draft constitution on Dec. 15.

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At one of the largest protests yet against Morsi’s five-month rule, demonstrators in the iconic plaza waved anti-Brotherhood signs and chanted against the leader, who they say is taking the country back toward dictatorship. Morsi made a presidential decree on Nov. 22 that gave him broad powers immune from judicial review.

In the same breath, anti-Morsi protesters also voiced opposition to the Brotherhood-dominated constitutional committee that last night rammed through a draft constitution that lacked the support of Egypt’s Coptic Church and many secular representatives.

In a marathon session that ended in the early hours of Friday morning, the members of the Morsi-allied constituent assembly voted in a new constitution that the New York-based Human Rights Watch says offers only mixed support of key social and political rights.

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Anger at Morsi even spilled over into a mosque where the Islamist president joined weekly Friday prayers. In his sermon, the mosque's preacher compared Morsi to Islam's Prophet Muhammad, saying the prophet had enjoyed vast powers as leader, giving a precedent for the same to happen now.

"No to tyranny!" congregants chanted, interrupting the cleric. Morsi took to the podium and told the worshippers that he too objected to the language of the sheik and that one-man rule contradicts Islam.

Crowds of protesters marched from several locations in Cairo, converging in central Tahrir Square for what the opposition plans to be the second massive rally in a week against Morsi. They chanted, "Constitution: Void!" and "The people want to bring down the regime."

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Since neither choice appeals to a majority of Egyptians, they have instead turned out in large numbers to protest.

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi says he needs the new, sweeping powers to protect Egypt from an activist judiciary dominated by holdovers from the era of toppled dictator Hosni Mubarak.

Morsi said he would give up these new powers as soon as a new constitution is drafted. So after protests erupted, the Islamist-dominated constituent assembly resolved to diffuse the situation by ramming through an already controversial draft constitution.

“It’s not even an ultimatum, really. You get a constitution that’s quite crappy, and you’re stuck with a president whose decisions you cannot challenge,” said Ziad Akl, a senior political researcher at Al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies. “This has nothing to do with a transition toward democracy, but a lot to do with creating a new autocratic or dictatorial elite.”

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There were reports of clashes between riot police and demonstrators, according to CNN, with the police firing tear gas and charging at protesters who threw stones. CNN said the police arrested many demonstrators, beating some.

The protesters, nearly 200,000 of them, filled Tahrir Square from Tuesday night into Wednesday. Observers said the crowds were the biggest since former President Hosni Mubarak was ousted from power last year.

Reuters reported that two of Egypt's top courts also stopped work in protest of the decree.

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Egyptian police threw tear gas canisters into the crowd, which is comparable in size to those of the 2011 Arab Spring. According to reports, one middle-aged man died from inhaling tear gas on Tuesday.

Reuters posted this video:

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