Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi has promised the country’s top judges that he will restrict his newly self-granted powers to sovereign matters.
Morsi spokesman Yasser Ali said the Islamist president made the pledge Monday during talks with the Supreme Judicial Council. There was no definition of the sovereign matters over which President Morsi will have absolute power. He granted himself that power in a November 22 decree that bars the judiciary from challenging his decisions.
The spokesman said Mr. Morsi’s clarification on the issue of "sovereign matters" does not constitute a change to the decree.
Opposition groups were preparing to hold a mass protest in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Tuesday to demand the cancellation of Mr. Morsi's decree. They accuse him of trying to assume dictatorial powers like those of his longtime predecessor Hosni Mubarak, who was ousted in a 2011 popular uprising.
Mr. Morsi has defended his move as a temporary measure to speed up democratic reforms delayed by legal challenges under a judicial system with many Mubarak-era appointees. He has said his decree will last until new parliamentary elections are held under a revised constitution that must be approved in a national referendum.