Egyptians voted in huge numbers on Saturday in their first taste of democracy after former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak’s ouster, although a referendum was marred by an assault on Nobel peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei.
Turnout figures were not expected before yesterday, but officials said the numbers at polling stations were unprecedented for Egypt, where participation was minuscule in the Mubarak era as voters assumed their ballots would make no difference.
Just five weeks after the strongman quit, the estimated 45 million voters were asked to say “yes” or “no” to a package of constitutional changes intended to guide the Arab world’s most populous nation through fresh presidential and parliamentary elections within six months.
Photo: AFP
Eager voters seized their first taste of democracy following Mubarak’s overthrow by nationwide street protests, which ended decades of authoritarian rule.
“Today we feel our vote can make a difference,” pharmacy student Maraam Mohammed said as she lined up to vote in Giza.
One government official told reporters: “It’s very difficult to get numbers, but everyone agrees it’s unprecedented, it’s huge, it’s never been seen before.”
Photo: EPA
Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, an Egyptian who is a leading contender for president in eventual elections, hailed the high participation as he cast his vote in upscale Garden City.
“Whether the Egyptian people say ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ that’s alright,” said Moussa, a staunch opponent of the transitional military government’s plans to make only limited changes to the Mubarak-era Constitution before holding new elections. “What is important is that people are coming. We need a new Egypt.”
The excitement of voters at casting their ballot, many of them for the first time in their lives, was overshadowed by an attack on former UN nuclear watchdog chief ElBaradei, who is a rival secular contender for the presidency, as he tried to cast his vote in south Cairo.
Despite being hit in the back by a stone thrown from a crowd of hundreds of Islamists, he escaped unharmed from the attack, his brother Ali said.
ElBaradei has been an outspoken critic of the tight timetable for the restoration of civilian rule set by the transitional military government, arguing that it gives far too little time for new political parties to organize at the grassroots level.
An appointed panel of experts drew up the proposed amendments in just 10 days, as the military council that took over from Mubarak strives to hand over power as quickly as possible and keep the army above the political fray.
However, the hasty, improvised nature of the proposed constitutional underpinnings of Egypt’s promised new democracy drove many of the leading groups and figures behind the victorious protest movement to urge a “no” vote.
The amendments are by and large uncontroversial, but critics argue that they do not go far enough in overhauling the Mubarak-era charter, which they say needs to be completely rewritten.
The main advocates of a “yes” vote have been the Muslim Brotherhood — powerful and well organized despite being outlawed under Mubarak — and elements of his former ruling National -Democratic Party.
“This is a joyful day,” Brotherhood leader Mohammed Badie said as he cast his vote in Manial, a middle-class Cairo neighborhood, vowing to accept the verdict whatever it was. “This time nobody can say in advance that the outcome of the vote will be this percentage or that.”
Some analysts predict a majority “yes” vote, at least outside the big cities, given the strong rural support of the Brotherhood and the perceived backing of the army, popular after it sided with protesters against Mubarak.
Others are more skeptical, pointing to the widespread economic discontent in the governorates that has sparked a wave of strikes and walkouts.
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