Egypt seemed to be on the precipice of a head-on collision between the country's government and a large chunk of its citizens on Tuesday, after the national military issued threats to throw away a hotly contested constitutional draft if President Mohammed Morsi does not acknowledge the demands of millions of protesters.
According to USA Today, the Egyptian military has written up a proposal to get rid of the Islamist-supported constitution, break up the primarily Islamist assembly and put into place an interim governmental body, unless Morsi comes to an agreement with the opposition.
Egypt's state-run news agency reported that the military has given Morsi until the end of Wednesday to make his decision.
The nation's armed forces claimed it does not want to take power, but the drafted constitution does indicate that Morsi should step down from his position after being put in office by Egypt's first democratic election, following the Arab Spring movement of 2011.
But Morsi insisted on Tuesday that he will not be replaced, and he will not go from his seat without a fight. On his official Twitter account, he said he rejects all "dictates."
In a statement from Morsi's office, a "modern democratic state" was said to be one of the hallmark victories from the uprisings in 2011.
"With all its force, Egypt will not allow itself to be taken backward," the statement said.
Morsi met with Egyptian defense minister and army chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi on Tuesday, where he reportedly received the drafted ultimatum. No further details were provided concerning the meeting.
A high-up leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mohammed Al-Beltagi, told Morsi-backers that they should bear up for "martyrdom" to bar what he referred to as an impending coup.
"We are facing an official coup by the former regime, supported by counterrevolutionary forces and media battalions who are deceiving the people and benefit from differences and political divisions," he told Al Ahram newspaper.
Senior researcher for Cairo's Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies Ziad Akl said that the Muslim Brotherhood, which backs Morsi's rule, believes they still hold clout.
"It's a continuation of the power struggle between the military and the presidency," he said. "The Brotherhood believes that they still have political cards to play, that they still have tools that they can use to pressure the army."
Meanwhile, Egypt's foreign minister resigned on Tuesday, joining five other ministers who stepped down from their seats on Monday.
