EGYPT - Mar 20 - Egypt's Constitutional Reforms Spur Protests.

Egypt's parliament approve a series of highly controversial amendments to the constitution, paving the way for a referendum next week on the changes in spite of protests from opposition groups. Government officials insist the amendments - the most wide-ranging to the charter since it was drafted in 1971 - are intended to open up political space. But opposition groups and human rights activists argue they are designed to weaken the opposition further, erode civil rights and consolidate "dictatorship". Amnesty International has condemned the amendments as the "greatest erosion" of rights in Egypt in 26 years. The referendum will be held, in what appeared to be an attempt to reduce the time for protests. To many the proposals illustrate that while the government moves ahead with some economic reforms following the inclusion of members of the private sector in the cabinet, it has no appetite for greater democracy in a country that has been ruled by military leaders since the 1952 revolution. Egyptians note that the proposed changes come at a time when the US - which views Egypt as an important Arab ally and is its biggest donor - has markedly toned down its calls for democratic reform in the Middle East. There is also uncertainty in Egypt about who will succeed 78-year-old Hosni Mubarak, who has ruled for 26 years, and some see the amendments as being partly designed to ensure a controlled transition. There has been speculation that Gamal Mubarak is being lined up to succeed his father, in spite of Gamal's insistence he has no presidential ambitions. Muhammad el-Sayed Said, an analyst at the Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, said the amendments amounted to a "constitutional coup", with the elite within government abducting the reform process to augment the president's substantial powers. The government, emboldened by economic improvements and the absence of foreign pressure for change, appeared to be following a model similar to China's, he said, liberalising the economy while tightening political control. "The fact is, the movement calling for genuine reform is totally frustrated", he said. "The impact is very, very clear at a moral level for those who were looking to Egypt for some restoration of democracy". It was Mubarak who first proposed the 34 amendments. They include a formal ban on political parties being established on the basis of religion and changes to electoral laws - both of which are deemed to target the Muslim Brotherhood, the strongest opposition group. Other proposals include reducing the role of the judiciary in supervising polling, which many fear will encourage electoral fraud. They also allow for new anti-terrorism legislation, which reformers say would undermine citizens' rights. The legislation would give police sweeping powers of arrest and authority to monitor communications, critics say, while enabling the president to refer "any terrorist crime to any of the judiciary authorities stated in the constitution or the law". State of emergency laws have been in place since the 1981 assassination of president Anwar Sadat. Since then, thousands of people have been detained without trial. Mubarak recently said the anti-terror law would be used only to fight terrorism, adding that the amendments were meant to strengthen political parties. But more than 100 opposition members of parliament, mainly members of the Brotherhood, walked out of the assembly in protest when legislators debated the changes. Parliament is dominated by the ruling National Democratic Party. The government has been unusually aggressive in cracking down on the Brotherhood recently, detaining hundreds of members. The legally banned Islamist movement surprised many by winning 88 seats in 2005 elections, fielding candidates as independents. Said said some of Egypt's elite, concerned about the rise of Islamist movements and instability in the region, consider strict political control is necessary to ensure smooth running of a market economy, negate the influence of Islamic groups and prevent the fragmentation of the state. But he and others say such logic is flawed. Hafez Abu Seada, secretary-general of the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights, said moves to weaken the Brotherhood would have the opposite effect, by excluding other political parties and boosting its credibility.