Egypt’s Military Winner in New Draft Constitution
Members of the Republican Guard close a road leading to the presidential palace in Cairo, December 6, 2012. Egypt’s Republican Guard restored order around the presidential palace on Thursday after fierce overnight clashes killed seven people, but passions ran high in a struggle over the country’s future. Hundreds of supporters of Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi who had camped out near the palace overnight withdrew before a mid-afternoon deadline set by the Republican Guard. Dozens of Mursi’s foes remained, but were kept away by a barbed wire barricade guarded by tanks. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany (EGYPT – Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST MILITARY)
University of Chicago law professor Tom Ginsburg has taken a careful look at Egypt’s draft constitution. He says there’s one big winner in the document: Egypt’s military.
“Military officers are pretty happy with the draft, and I can certainly see why,” Ginsburg says. “They didn’t have to publicly assert their red lines but they maintain many of the prerogatives of the (Hosni) Mubarak period.”