Egypt's vice president offers amendments to disputed constitution

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's vice president said on Wednesday amendments to disputed articles of the draft constitution could be agreed with the opposition ahead of a December 15 referendum and put in writing, and he called for dialogue with opponents to end the crisis.

"There must be consensus," Mahmoud Mekky told a news conference. He expected a dialogue to begin soon, he said, adding the demands of opposition protesters must be respected.

"There is real political will to pass the current period and respond to the demands of the public," Mekky said. "(We) could ... agree from now on amendments in a written document before the referendum," Mekky said.

He described the proposal as his own idea.

According to his plan, all parties would respect the document until new parliamentary elections that are expected early next year. At that point, parliament would initiate steps towards a formal amendment of the constitution.

Mekky called for "communication between political forces" on the document. He said the referendum would go ahead on time.

(Cairo Bureau; Editing by Mark Heinrich)