Egypt Ready with Draft Constitution, Keeps Sharia as Legislation Source

Members of Egypt's constitution assembly meet at the Shura Council for the final vote on a draft new Egyptian constitution in Cairo. Photo by cfr.org

Egypt's Islamist-led constitutional commission voted to approve the country's draft constitution on Friday.

"The constitutional commission to draft the main legislative document of the country has unanimously approved all provisions of the draft constitution," commission head Hossam el-Gheriyani said, as cited by RIA Novisti.

Representatives of secular parties and Coptic Christians walked out of the debate in the Islamist dominated commission, consisting of 100 delegates, to show their disagreement with the newly-proposed constitution.

The draft keeps Sharia, or the moral code and religious law of Islam, as the main source of Egypt's legislation.

The Constitution was sent to President Mohamed Morsi, who said Thursday he would call a nationwide referendum on the charter "soon."

The referendum must be held within 30 days.

The draft charter states that Egypt is a Muslim nation and that — for the first time in the republic's history — parliament must consult clerics at Al Azhar mosque, a revered institution in Sunni Islam, on legislation "related to Islamic sharia," the Los Angeles Times has noted. .

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