Egypt’s most senior judges announced yesterday they would delegate judicial officers to oversee a referendum on a controversial draft constitution, overriding calls for a boycott amid growing popular unrest.

The judges’ decision brings a measure of relief to President Mohamed Morsi even as pressure mounts against him in the streets, with the opposition calling a new protest rally for today.

The new charter, which was rushed through by the Islamist-dominated constituent assembly after Morsi on November 22 issued a decree expanding his powers, has become the focal point of Egypt’s biggest political crisis since the President was elected in June.

Morsi’s decree and the adoption of the constitution by an Islamist-dominated panel has polarised Islamist and largely secular forces with Cairo becoming the theatre of mass rival rallies.

The latest demonstration is scheduled for 1500 CET today, when a coalition of opposition groups, including Nobel Laureate Mohamed Elbaradei’s party and supporters of former presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabbahi, are to rally outside the presidential palace to oppose the charter and the referendum.

But the Supreme Judicial Council’s announcement that judges would monitor the December 15 nationwide referendum required for the draft constitution to pass into law comes as a blow to Morsi’s opponents, including judges, who had hoped to delegitimise the vote.

Mohammed Gadallah, Morsi’s legal aide, said the decision meant that the referendum would after all take place under judicial supervision.