The new constitution would give the council powers to legislate until the lower house is elected within the next two months. Morsi has held legislative powers for months now since a court disbanded the lower house of parliament.
Over the weekend, Morsi appointed 90 members to the Islamist-dominated Shura Council, in an attempt to make the body more representative. The 90 include at least 30 Islamists and a dozen minority Christians. The council now has a total of 270 members, two-thirds of them elected. Critics, however, say most of the representatives are either Islamists or their supporters.
The council was elected last winter in a vote with an extremely low turnout of less than 10 percent of Egypt's 51 million eligible voters.
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