DHAKA: A 50-member panel drafting Egypt’s new constitution begins voting on Saturday on the final document which will then be put to a referendum, officials said.

The constitution is the first key milestone in a road map envisaged by Egypt’s military-installed rulers after the army ousted Islamist president Mohamed Mursi on July 3.

Its adoption will be followed by parliamentary and presidential elections due to take place by the middle of 2014.

‘The vote on the draft will last one or two days,’ state media quoted the panel’s deputy head, Kamal al-Helbawi, as saying, with members due to begin voting later on Saturday, reports The Voice of Russia.

The panel began work on drafting the basic law at the beginning of September.

The road map stipulates that a referendum on the constitution be held by the end of the year, but government officials have said this is now expected in the second half of January.

Egypt’s interim rulers suspended the previous constitution after Mursi was removed following just one year in office.

BDST: 1554 HRS, NOV 30, 2013