While sufficient numbers to approve the new draft Egyptian constitution were achieved, Egyptians hoping for a full-fledged ‘mandate’ from the referendum didn’t quite reach that goal. Results show almost everyone who cast ballots supported Egypt’s new constitution but a boycott by Islamists and a low turnout by the country’s youth turnout suggest the country is still dangerously divided.
Close to 20 million voters backed the new constitution which is just about double the number of those who even voted for the one drafted in 2012 under the government of toppled Islamist President Mohammed Morsi. Turnout for the referendum was about 39 percent but 98.1 percent of those were “yes” votes leaving 1.9 percent voting against the charter after a massive government sponsored campaign supporting it and the arrest of activists campaigning against it. This puts on display that the country’s enduring division six months after the ouster of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi and nearly three years after autocrat Mubarak was overthrown.
“Despite a milieu of intense social upheaval and acts of terrorism and sabotage that sought to derail the process, Egyptians have now marked yet another defining moment in our road map to democracy,” presidential spokesman Ehab Badawy said. “The outcome represents nothing less than the dawning of a new Egypt.”
In reality however, the 98.1 percent “yes” vote cannot be seen as an accurate reflection of public opinion in “a country as big and as complex and divided as Egypt,” said Khaled Fahmy, a political analyst who chairs the history department at the American University in Cairo. “This is a very alarming figure. … Something has gone very wrong.”
General Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, the military chief who led the July 3 coup that removed Morsi has yet to say outright whether he will seek the land’s highest office. His supporters had viewed the January 14-15 referendum on the new constitution as a vote on the general’s possible presidential bid. The relatively low turnout is a cause of concern for the general and his supporters though. While there are no claims the vote was rigged or fraudulent, the low turnout does leave the ‘big picture’ muddled.
With the approval of the constitution behind them now, the country will proceed into the process of setting up general elections and hopefully install a stable government giving the country even more legitimization. Unfortunately, the prospect of further demonstrations and the possibility of continued violence hangs over any upcoming campaign process.
To read more, click here: https://fggam.org/egyptian-voters-overwhelmingly-back-new-constitution/