I have not been able to find a primary source for the 34 constitutional amendments that have got through the Egyptian parliament. Unfortunately this is probably the language barrier at work. The best I could find was this document from the Carnegie Endowment [pdf] .

From the report :

Taken together, the amendments and process by which they were passed constitute an effort by the Egyptian regime to increase the appearance of greater balance among the branches of government and of greater opportunities for political parties, while in fact limiting real competition strictly and keeping power concentrated in the hands of the executive branch and ruling party. An analysis of some of the more controversial amendments follows.

Egypt has been under a state of emergency since 1981 which allows the use of military force for civil solutions. One of the amendments to the constitution enables civilians to be persecuted in military courts. This effectively entrenches the state of emergency, or exception, as part of the constitutional order. This also enables the executive to act as the judicature, breaking separation of powers. The article also allows for arbitrary search, imprisonment and violation of privacy if suspected of terrorism. This is written for the purpose of abuse.

One of the articles moves the supervision of election from the judicature to an independent electoral commission. This is the practice in nations such as Australia, since Egypt is corrupted in the executive and legislative there is no real solution to the fixed elections. This does remove the semi-independent judicial branch from elections, probably helping to entrench electoral tampering. The Egyptians, unfortunately, are stuck with a pig of a tyrant in this area.

The largest opposition party in Egypt is the Muslim Brotherhood. One of the amendments bans religion based political parties as well as political activity. There is nothing wrong with religious groups organising politically, as long as there is separation of church and state, it should not be an issue.

There are numerous religious based political parties around the world - for a long time Australian politics had a religious divide with the Liberals dominated by Protestants and Labor by Catholics. It isn't inherently damaging as long as religious freedom and basic liberty is not impacted. This amendment in Egypt must be viewed as an attempt to suppress political opposition.

Another amendments make it easier for the President to dissolve parliament without public referendum. So it appears that Mubarak is attempting to entrench executive power and make it easier for the executive to quell political dissent and competition through entrenching legal provisions giving the executive the chance to act arbitrarily. The article contains:

The results of the popular referendum are predictable, but their long term impacts are unclear. The regime is likely pass its undemocratic amendments at almost no cost to its immediate stability, but some difficult questions will arise in the coming period. Will the regime be able to manage the political marginalization of the Brotherhood without driving some of its popular base toward radicalization?

Will the Muslim Brotherhood accept and try to work within the new constitutional boundaries or will it explore other alternatives, especially if faced with more repression? How will civil society organizations and human rights activists deal with the regime's unprecedented reversal of constitutional safeguards for individual rights and freedoms?

Regardless of how these questions will be settled, citizens are becoming more alienated from political life and the current polarization is exacerbating the problem. It is ironic that individual liberties are being confiscated at the same moment that the regime is working to enshrine the concept of citizenship in article one of the constitution, which states that "The Arab Republic of Egypt is a democratic state that is based on citizenship."

I suspect it will end in radicalisation. Saudi Arabia's restrictive political policies (such as no democracy or elections) have led to disenfranchised Sauds expressing themselves through radical wahabism.

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More Reading on Egypt

• Egypt
• The Egyptian Amendments
• The Victory In Egypt