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Egyptians vote overwhelmingly in favor of new constitution in referendum
By contrast and raising the prospects of a continued polarization among Egyptians, long lines formed outside polling stations in major urban areas and big cities, with crowds brandishing posters of the country’s military chief, chanting in support of the army and women ululating.
Such patriotic outbursts followed an intense campaign by the government and the overwhelmingly pro-military media, which portrayed the balloting as key to the nation’s security and stability.
The current interim government is looking for a big “yes” majority and large turnout to win undisputed legitimacy and perhaps a popular mandate for the military chief, General Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, to run for president later this year.
El-Sissi has yet to say outright whether he plans to seek the nation’s highest office, but his candidacy appears increasingly likely every day.
Following the referendum, Egypt’s Interim President Adly Mansour is expected to also announce changes in the road map, scheduling presidential elections before the vote for the next parliament, a switch from the initial plan. This could give Egypt a new president before the summer.
Many Egyptians saw the vote as a deadly blow to the Muslim Brotherhood and political Islam, whose parties have dominated the past 5 polls since the 2011 ouster of longtime authoritarian President Hosni Mubarak. In the past three years, the Islamists swept the vote in parliamentary and presidential elections, and seemed to have positioned themselves as the country’s rulers for decades.
The privately-owned The Seventh Day daily ran a mock, front-page death certificate for the Brotherhood, listing cause of death as “political stupidity and betrayal.”
The text also gave the location for the burial — “ballot boxes.”
Source: Associated Press
