Egypt votes on new laws as violence highlights divide

CAIRO
Egyptians queued to vote on a new constitution on Tuesday amid high security, in a referendum likely to launch a presidential bid by the army chief who overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsy.

Polling at most stations got off to a smooth start, but five people were killed in clashes between Morsy supporters and police and anti-Morsy groups in central and southern Egypt, security officials said.

The violence highlighted the government’s precarious grip on the most populous Arab country, still reeling from Morsy’s ouster and a bloody crackdown on his supporters.

An Islamist coalition led by the former president’s Muslim Brotherhood had urged protests and a boycott during the two-day vote.

A small bomb exploded without causing injuries outside a Cairo court shortly before polls opened in the morning, as hundreds of thousands of soldiers and police deployed to guard polling stations.

The Interior ministry had pledged to confront attempts to disrupt voting.

Defence minister Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the general who overthrew Morsy in July, visited a polling station at a north Cairo school after voting began to inspect security preparations.

“Work hard. We need the referendum to be completely secured,” he told soldiers guarding the school.

LARGE TURNOUT

The government hopes a large turnout in favour of the constitution will bolster its disputed authority, while Sisi will monitor it for an “indicator” of his popularity, an official close to the general said.

Interim president Adly Mansour urged voters to cast their ballots.

“The people must prove to dark terrorism that they fear nothing,” he said after voting.

“The voting is not only for the constitution, but also for the roadmap, so the country can have an elected president and a parliament.”

The referendum will be followed by parliamentary and presidential elections.

Security forces deployed in force across the country amid fears a spate of militants attacks and protests would discourage voters.

At one station for women at a school, dozens queued to cast their ballots, some waving Egyptian flags and chanting pro-military slogans.

“We must be with our police and army so that no one can terrorise us. Even if a bomb exploded in my polling station, I would vote,” said Salwa Abdel Fattah, a 50-year-old gynaecologist.

It is unclear how many Egyptians will vote because of security worries, but the constitution appears certain to pass.

The charter has done away with much of the Islamist-inspired wording of Morsy’s constitution, suspended on his overthrow, and its supporters say it expands women’s rights and freedom of speech.

VOTE YES

But it has bolstered the military’s powers, granting the army the right to appoint the defence minister for the next eight years and to try civilians for attacks on the armed forces.

The run-up to the vote was marred by a crackdown on Morsy’s supporters and arrests of activists who campaigned for a “no” vote.

The capital has been festooned with banners urging Egyptians to vote “yes”, often featuring military motifs such as a general’s hat, an allusion to Sisi.

Many Islamists revile Sisi as the man who overthrew the country’s first freely-elected and civilian president, but the general is adored by the millions who took to the streets in July to demand Morsy’s resignation.

He is widely expected to run for president, and has said he would stand if he felt there was “popular demand”, state media reported this week.

The authorities are worried a low turnout would empower their Islamist opponents in Morsy’s Brotherhood and cast further doubts over

their legitimacy, analysts say.

“Prove to the world that what happened was a popular revolution,” Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim said in a visit to a polling station, referring to Morsy’s overthrow.

Egypt was ruled by successive presidents drawn from military ranks until Hosni Mubarak’s overthrow in early 2011.