Cairo: Amidst tensions between the opposition and President Mohammed Mursi, Egypt’s Constituent Assembly approved a draft Constitution early Friday.

The final draft of Egypt’s first Constitution since the fall of former president Hosni Mubarak has been sent to Mursi, who is expected to submit it for public approval in a referendum.

The approval was hurried as liberal and Christian members did not participate in the whole procedure, seeking to pre-empt a court ruling that could dissolve their panel with a rushed, marathon vote.

The move advanced a charter with an Islamist bent that rights experts say could give Muslim clerics oversight over legislation and bring restrictions on freedom of speech, women’s rights and other liberties.

The draft must now be put to a nationwide referendum within 30 days. Mursi said on Thursday it will be held “soon”.

The Islamist-dominated Assembly that has been working on the Constitution for months raced to pass it, voting article by article on the draft’s more than 230 articles for more than 16 hours. The lack of inclusion was on display in the nationally televised gathering: Of the 85 members in attendance, there was not a single Christian and only four women, all Islamists. Many of the men wore beards, the hallmark of Muslim conservatives.

For weeks, liberal, secular and Christian members, already a minority on the 100-member panel, have been withdrawing to protest what they call the Islamists’ hijacking of the process.

The sudden rush to finish came as the latest twist in a week-long crisis pitting Brotherhood veteran Mursi and his Islamist supporters against a mostly secular and liberal opposition and the powerful judiciary. Voting had not been expected for another two months. But the Assembly abruptly moved it up in order to pass the draft before Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court rules on Sunday on whether to dissolve the panel.