The assembly drawing up a new Egyptian constitution will complete the draft later on Thursday, its spokesman said, meaning it will finish its work on time according to the roadmap set out by the army-backed authorities.

"The head of the committee will announce the completion of the articles of the constitution and the end of the committee's mission later today," Mohamed Salmawy said in a televised news conference.

The military suspended the constitution in July after deposing President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood, the country's first democratically elected head of state.

The army-installed government then laid out the roadmap paving the way to new parliamentary and presidential elections next year after the completion of the new constitution.

The draft, which will be put to a referendum, strips out Islamic language written into the constitution last year by an Islamist-dominated assembly. By contrast, the 50-member assembly chaired by former Arab League chief Amr Moussa has only two Islamists, one of them a member of the hardline Nour Party.

Salmawy said the constitution's preamble declared Egypt "a modern democratic state under civilian rule". - Reuters