Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi. Photo: wiki commons.

A new threat to Egypt’s democratic revolution has emerged: “romantic” songs and music videos. On Thursday a state-run newspaper reported that both have been banned from running on Egyptian state television channels, this according to a report in Al-Arabiya.

Only nationalistic tunes “that are worth broadcasting” will be allowed on the country’s 23 state-owned channels the report said, while sarcastic songs mocking public figures will also be banned because of the “sensitiveness of the political situation” in the country.

The move comes amid fierce political tension in the country. In the past several weeks tens-of-thousands of protesters have taken to the streets to demonstrate against Egypt’s president, Mohammed Morsi, for what they see as his attempts to consolidate power.

Voting for a controversial referendum on a new constitution in Egypt is set for Saturday. The draft constitution, which was drawn up by an Islamist-led drafting assembly last month, has become the object of criticism among opposition members, made up of secular, liberal, leftwing and Christian groups. They have called for a ‘no’ vote and imposed conditions that could yet result in its boycott.