“In what I think is a first in Egyptian political history, on Sunday 18 March, 102 opposition legislators began a boycott of parliament’s plenary sessions. The sessions are devoted to swiftly passing what the Mubarak regime is calling ‘amendments’ to the 1971 constitution,” writes Egyptian blogger Baheya. “In reality, the alterations augment executive powers and constitutionalise the exclusion of Mubarak’s challengers,” writes the blogger.