CAIRO, Egypt — Former President Jimmy Carter’s center said Thursday that it will not deploy monitors for Egypt’s constitutional referendum, amid deepening polarization over the process of adopting a document guiding how the country is to be governed after its 2011 revolution.
The center was the main international group monitoring earlier Egyptian votes, and its absence increases the likelihood that, if the constitution backed by President Mohammed Morsi and his Islamist allies passes, the rushed process leading to the Saturday referendum will further undermine the document’s legitimacy.
It also comes as opposition and rights groups warn that the breakneck pace of organizing the vote and changes to the procedure for accrediting elections monitors may lead to fraud in the vote.
Egypt was plunged into political crisis three weeks ago when Morsi issued a decree giving himself near-absolute power. The president rescinded the decree in the face of broad criticism and huge street protests, but not before a panel drawing up the country’s constitution pushed through a draft in a marathon Dec. 1 overnight session and the president ordered a referendum two weeks later.
Morsi’s supporters say the constitution will help end the political instability that has gripped Egypt since the March 2011 overthrow of autocratic leader Hosni Mubarak in a popular uprising. His opponents say minority concerns have been ignored and the constitution is full of obscurely worded clauses that could allow Islamists to restrict civil liberties.
Compounding the sense of crisis are huge rival protests that draw tens and sometimes hundreds of thousands. On Dec. 5, pro-Morsi supporters attacked an opposition sit-in outside the presidential palace, leading to street clashes in which at least 10 people were killed — the worst political violence since Morsi was elected president. Both sides have planned new mass rallies today.
As tensions rise, the Carter Center — which monitored Egypt’s past parliamentary and presidential elections — said it would not be able to conduct “a comprehensive assessment of all aspects of the referendum process.” It cited in a statement the government’s late release of regulations for election monitoring.
Also Thursday, 20 Egyptian rights groups issued a joint statement warning of possible election fraud, and expressing concern that a state-run human-rights council has taken charge of issuing monitoring permits, in the past obtained directly from the elections committee.
“The undersigned organizations are deeply concerned about the potential of rigging during or after the referendum,” said the statement.
The opposition was torn between whether to boycott the process or campaign for a “no” vote, but on Wednesday the umbrella National Salvation Front called on Egyptians to cast ballots against the document. Groups said Thursday that they had produced videos against the constitution and one party said it will send loudspeaker trucks to tour Cairo urging a “no” vote.
The opposition has still left open the possibility of a boycott if judges and monitors are absent and if the state doesn’t provide protection to polling stations.
Nobel laureate Mohamed El-Baradei, who leads the National Salvation Front, told Morsi in a televised message Thursday, “Fear God, Dr. Morsi, and postpone the referendum.”
The polarization has hit government bodies and other state institutions, in particular the judiciary.
On Thursday, the Judges’ Club — a body that acts as a union for judges — held an emergency meeting denouncing the prosecutor general, Talaat Abdullah, for transferring an investigative judge who released anti-Morsi protesters detained at the palace clashes. The judge was since reinstated.
Abdullah is a focus of judicial anger, as he was appointed and his predecessor removed as part of Morsi’s special decree, even though the president normally does not have the power to fire prosecutors.
The decree prompted many judges to go on strike, and most will refrain from overseeing the constitution referendum, according to the Judges’ Club. Egyptian elections law requires judicial oversight of the voting process.
Morsi has responded to the shortage of judges by breaking the vote into two rounds — one Saturday and another on Dec. 22.
Front Section, Pages 6 on 12/14/2012