Egypt panel votes on constitutional reforms

CAIRO — A 50-member panel on Saturday began a bellwether vote on Egypt’s draft constitution, a process that should yield key clues about the country’s envisioned post-coup transition to democracy.

The voting coincides with fresh political upheaval in the wake of a new law sharply restricting street protests. In recent days police have violently broken up demonstrations in the capital and elsewhere by both secular Egyptians and by Islamists supporting ousted President Mohamed Morsi. Several activists prominent in the 2011 uprising that toppled autocratic President Hosni Mubarak have been arrested.

Contentious provisions in the new draft constitution involve the role of Egypt’s powerful military, the use of military tribunals to try civilians, and a ban on political parties founded on a religious basis. Article-by-article voting could take up to two days, and the document is then to be put to a nationwide referendum.

Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president, was toppled by the military in July after enormous public protests decrying his autocratic rule. However, the interim government that succeeded him has raised hackles with various authoritarian measures, including the protest law.

The interim government has pledged to hold parliamentary and presidential elections in the coming year. U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry has said the democratic transition appears to be “on track,� but rights groups have raised serious concerns about the military-backed government’s crackdown on Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood and other political dissidents.

The constitutional panel is chaired by Amr Moussa, the former head of the Arab League.

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