Morsi Opposition Plans to Boycott Vote

Over the weekend, Egyptian President Mohammad Morsi proposed a compromise on the sweeping decree of absolute power he’d granted himself, saying that he would permit judicial oversight on everything except his “constitutional declarations”—a phrase nobody seems to completely understand. The move was not enough to satiate the opposition of Egyptian secularists, liberals and Christians, who remain convinced that Morsi’s ties to the Muslim Brotherhood spell certain doom for the nation’s already precarious religious liberty. The Morsi opposition has called for an overhaul of Egypt’s charter, which was largely drafted by members of the Muslim Brotherhood, but the government intends to go ahead with the vote. The move resulted in another day of protests. Mohamed ElBaradei, the head coordinator of the secular opposition, tweeted this response: “We have broken the barrier of fear: A constitution that aborts our rights and freedoms is one that we will bring down today, before tomorrow. Our power is in our will” …