08:30 Polling stations are already very busy, reports Ahram Online journalist Adel Abdel-Latif in Giza governorate adjacent to Cairo.
At Om El-Moemenin girls school in the working class district of Omrania, the lines stretch over a kilometre you cannot see the end, Ahram Online’s Abdel-Latif says adding it was the longest voter queue he had ever seen. This has been spotted at three different schools in the Giza district, even though polling stations only opened 45 minutes ago.
08:15 April 6 youth movement (Democratic Front) announced they have set up an operations room to document instances of electoral violations during the second stage of the referendum, and will publise
The Socialist Popular Alliance are also running an electoral violations centre, with a reported 600 observers at the polling stations keeping an eye on proceedings. They say they will publish regular reports of their findings as the day continues.
This comes after a number of prominent human rights groups called for a re-run of the first phase of Egypt’s constitutional referendum due to thousands of reported violations.
These include unsupervised polling stations, “fake” judges overseeing the voting, Freedom and Justice Party members being allowed into polling stations to encourage people to vote ‘yes’, ballot box stuffing and pre-stamped ballot papers.
08:00 Good morning, we open our live coverage of the final phase of Egypt’s constitutional referendum. Polling stations across 17 governorates are opening their doors to the estimated 25.5 million voters who will vote today. For more analysis on the expected outcome of today’s polls read this
Millions of Egyptians across 17 governorates will vote in the second and final phase of the country’s constitutional referendum Saturday against the backdrop of further violence as fierce clashes broke out the day before between rival protest groups in Alexandria, leaving dozens injured.
Street battles began in Egypt’s second city when groups against the draft national charter clashed with the thousands who had gathered at Qaed Ibrahim Mosque in support of the referendum and Sharia Law.
Alexandria voted in the first round of the referendum, 17 governorates will vote Saturday including Port Said, Suez, Ismailia, Qalioubiya, Menoufiya, Damietta, Kafr El-Sheikh, Beheira, Giza, Fayoum, Beni Suef, Minya, Luxor, Qena, Marsa Matruh, the Red Sea and the New Valley.
Following the results of the first round which saw 57 per cent vote in favour of the draft constitution, many analysts believe the second phase will also be a “yes”.
Out of the 17 voting, the majority of them are rural areas, with Muslim Brotherhood maintaining a sizeable support base in agricultural governorates such as Beheira, Kafr El-Sheikh, Damietta, Minya, Beni Suef and Fayoum.
Only three of the governorates heading to the polling stations Saturday voted overwhelmingly against President Mohamed Morsi in the presidential elections.
The first stage was marred by documented instances of electoral violations, including missing judges, “fake” judges supervising polling stations, pre-stamped ballot papers, deliberate delays at polling stations and ballot box stuffing, leading civil society groups and the opposition coalition National Salvation Front to call for a re-run.
The Cairo Administrative Court is currently investigating a legal complaint that the referendum is void as it was held across two phases, a week apart.
The issue of judicial supervision also continues to be a point of contention. The Judges’ Club, which boycotted the first stage, will not participate in the second phase it confirmed, adding that more numbers have joined their ranks, meaning the lack of supervision will open the “doors for large-scale rigging.”
Around 1,400 State Council judges and the Club of Administrative Prosecutors said they would also not monitor the polls.
Authorities maintain that the polling stations will be correctly supervised.
The Constituent Assembly, tasked with writing the constitution, held dialogue discussions about the contentious draft charter Friday, in a bid to come to an agreement on some of the more contentious articles. However the opposition forces boycotted the meeting saying it did not matter as the referendum was already underway.
There have been mass protests and violent clashes on the Egypt’s streets ever since President Mohamed Morsi released a contentious Constitutional Declaration 22 November, immunising his own decrees and the constitution-drafting body. Egypt’s national charter was then hastily drafted by an Islamist-dominated Constituent Assembly, passed by the president and put to referendum, speaking mass uproar.
With neither side backing down there are few signs that Egypt’s deepening political crisis will be resolved.
Ahram
