Egypt draft constitution to be finalised before 19 November

Proposed constitution will be ready for popular referendum before end of November, says member of Egypt's controversy-dogged Constituent Assembly A final draft of Egypt's new constitution will be finalised before 19 November, Mohamed Mohieddin, a member of the defence and national security committee within Egypt's Constituent Assembly – tasked with drafting a new national charter – said Thursday.   Mohieddin added that assembly members would vote on the final draft before the end of this month, after which the document would be put before a popular referendum for approval. He went on to say the assembly's 100 members would begin discussing the draft on Sunday. Mohieddin's statements come as the assembly faces threats from 30 of its liberal and leftist members to withdraw from the constitution-drafting body to protest what they see as an unrealistically tight deadline by which the assembly is expected to finish its work. From Ahramonline