Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi has hailed an Islamist-backed charter he pushed through despite fierce opposition protests as 'a new dawn' for his country, and says he will now tackle a teetering economy.
In a televised national address, Morsi said he would reshuffle his government and renewed an offer of dialogue with the largely secular opposition.
But while 'mistakes on both sides' occurred as the new charter was drafted and put to a referendum that gave it 64 per cent voter support, he remained defiant over the 'difficult' decisions he made.
'I only took decisions for God and in the interests of the nation,' said Morsi, who hails from Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood.
The result, he contended, holding up the constitution, would cap nearly two years of turmoil since the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak in February 2011, and allow Egypt to enter 'an era with greater security and stability'.
It was 'a new dawn for Egypt', he said.
The opposition, however, has already dismissed the new charter and said it would fight on, challenging its legitimacy and positioning itself for legislative elections that are due within the next two months.
The head of the opposition National Salvation Front, Nobel peace prize laureate Mohamed ElBaradei tweeted that the constitution was 'void' because it conflicts with international law in regard to 'freedom of belief, expression, etc'.
The Front sees the charter as a possible tool to introduce strict Islamic sharia law by weakening human rights, the rights of women and the independence of the judiciary.
It also stressed that just one in three of Egypt's 52 million voters took part in the referendum.
Protests against the charter, and against a decree - later rescinded - giving Morsi near-absolute powers, have taken place since late November. Some of them turned violent, including clashes on December 5 that killed eight people and wounded hundreds.
The likelihood of prolonged 'elevated' political conflict despite the adoption of the constitution prompted the ratings agency Standard and Poor's this week to knock Egypt's long-term credit rating down a peg, to B-.
A $US4.8 billion ($A4.6 billion) loan the International Monetary Fund put on pause this month has also made investors anxious.
Authorities have already banned travellers from taking out or bringing in more than $US10,000 each.
Tourism has also not recovered from a 32 per cent decline that happened when the early 2011 revolution erupted to oust Mubarak.
