Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi announced on December 7 that he agrees to postpone to a later date the referendum on the country's constitution, which is scheduled for December 15. reports this Agence France-Presse .

According to Egyptian Vice President Mahmoud Mecca, Morsi is ready to postpone the referendum if opposition representatives guarantee that this decision will not have legal consequences. According to Egypt's Constitutional Declaration, a referendum on the adoption of a constitution must take place no later than two weeks after the president signs the draft constitution.

In addition, Mahmoud Mekki reported that Egypt's High Election Commission has postponed voting on the constitution among Egyptians living outside the country.

The cancellation or at least postponement of the referendum on the Egyptian constitution, which is scheduled for December 15, is one of the main demands of the opposition. Let us recall that earlier on December 7, the leaders of the Egyptian opposition refused to negotiate with Mohamed Morsi, which the country’s president proposed to schedule for December 8. The opposition named three conditions for the start of negotiations: Morsi's renunciation of dictatorial powers, the cancellation or postponement of the constitutional referendum, and the appointment of an independent investigation into the violence against demonstrators.
Morsi refused to fulfill these conditions, but said that he was ready for peace negotiations with representatives of the opposition.

As part of large-scale protests that have been taking place in Egypt for the last week and are aimed against the expansion of Morsi's powers, on the evening of December 7, about 10 thousand protesters marched on the presidential palace in Cairo. The demonstrators managed to break through the barbed wire fence, but the National Guard did not allow the demonstrators to enter the palace building.

In addition, on the same day, several hundred Islamist supporters of Mohammed Morsi attacked a media center in the south of Cairo, which houses the studios of several private Egyptian television channels that criticize the current regime in the country. The police used tear gas to disperse the Islamists.

Egyptian President agrees to postpone constitutional referendum