Democracy advocates are growing frustrated, as it appears Egypt’s rewritten constitution might retain provisions strengthening Islamic law and claiming extensive powers for the military.  Those passages were inserted during the failed presidency of Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood and largely to blame for his ouster.

Lest we forget, more than a million Egyptians filled the streets demanding the ouster of Morsi in July, after months of his diddling around with impractical applications of Sharia law and ignoring jobs and the economy.

Liberal, secular, and leftist politicians dominate the assembly of fifty lawmakers and leaders charged with repairing the damage done to the charter under Morsi.  But only one Islamist politician is succeeding in standing in their way - his objections have been enough to checkmate the rest.  The fear is that overruling him will drive his ultraconservative al-Nour Party into the streets to join the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists, who’ve been protesting since the 3 July ouster of Morsi.

Democracy advocates fear the al Nour’s provisions will cancel out significant advances in human rights before the final draft is in.  Those new articles are not insignificant – they definitively guarantee freedom of faith, expression, thought, and the press; guarantee due process; and ban the use of torture.

Panel members have spent this week voting on the least controversial articles, saving the dangerous stuff for last.  The plan is to put the new constitution up for a public referendum in January.