[The nation appears to be deeply divided between the supporters of the now banned Muslim Brotherhood and the supporters of the current regime propped up by the military. Apparently the latter somewhat outnumbers the former. But given the deep division that is not going to ensure peace in the coming days.]
I/III. http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Security-Watch/Backchannels/2014/0117/What-does-Egypt-s-yes-vote-in-the-constitutional-referendum-mean What does Egypt's 'yes' vote in the constitutional referendum mean? The majority of voters approved the new Egyptian Constitution, but turnout was low and it's not likely to solve many of Egypt's pressing problems. By Dan Murphy <http://www.csmonitor.com/About/Staff/Dan-Murphy>, Staff writer / January 17, 2014 *Dan Murphy <http://www.csmonitor.com/About/Staff/Dan-Murphy>* Staff writer Dan Murphy is a staff writer for the Monitor's international desk, focused on the Middle East. Murphy, who has reported from Iraq, Afghanistan, Egypt, and more than a dozen other countries, writes and edits Backchannels. The focus? War and international relations, leaning toward things Middle East. Egypt <http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Egypt>'s constitutional referendum ended yesterday with resounding passage of the new document. What does it mean for Egypt? Nothing particularly good. Yesterday evening Egyptian state-owned media reported 98 percent "yes" votes for the Constitution in 25 out of 27 provinces, which should not be taken as resounding national support for the new charter. Turnout was paltry – the government newspaper Al Ahram said it was 37 percent – as supporters of theMuslim Brotherhood<http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Muslim+Brotherhood> boycotted the election. The constitutional referendum wasn't really about the document itself. All things considered, it's an improvement<http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Security-Watch/Backchannels/2014/0115/Egypt-s-constitutional-referendum-It-s-not-about-democracy-any-more.-video> over the charter approved when the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi<http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Mohamed+Morsi> was president in 2012, though it retains a powerful political role for the army, including the right to try civilians. Instead it was a referendum on the coup that deposed Mr. Morsi last July: A "yes" vote was a yes to the military, and a yes to a removal of the Muslim Brotherhood from Egypt's political life. A "no," mostly expressed in a refusal to vote at all, was a no to the coup. Will Egypt's roiling street politics now settle down? Probably not. The Brotherhood has vowed to continue protests and there have been at least four deaths today amid large rallies in Alexandria and Cairo. The central demands of the original uprising against Mubarak in 2011 have not been met – particularly an end to rampant police brutality and the suppression of political dissent. In recent months the interim military government has jailed activists and journalists on spurious terrorism charges, shut newspapers, and fostered a hyper-nationalistic and xenophobic climate through government media outlets. The other thing to keep in mind is that many Egyptians seem perfectly comfortable with this. While the Jan. 25 2011 protests were about an end to military rule, many Egyptians seem quite happy to have the army back in the saddle - not that it really ever went away. The Muslim Brotherhood's Islamist agenda is, in fact, feared by millions of Egyptians. But the decision to outlaw the movement as a terrorist group has left the country's largest and best organized political movement with no legitimate way to press its demands at the ballot box. Long ago the Brotherhood formally renounced violence, and was encouraged to participate in politics by the promise that it would be their route to power. But when that day came – they won the first free parliamentary elections in generations in Egypt and Morsi narrowly won the country's first ever free presidential election – the movement's time in power was short. Now the movement's only outlet is the politics of the street and, perhaps, a return to political violence. Meanwhile the past three years of political turmoil and street violence have badly damaged a national economy that was on life support to begin with. Though vast infusions of cash from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf monarchies, which were horrified by the Brotherhood's victory at the ballot box, are helping to pay for the subsidized bread that millions of Egyptians rely on and are helping to shore up the Egyptian pound, there is as yet no prospect for economic renewal. The country's foreign currency reserves remain under $18 billion – about half of what they were before protests broke out against Mubarak – and the pound remains under pressure, which is helping to drive up inflation. The Constitution contains no solutions to Egypt's current problems, nor is the constant fulminating against foreign plots and enemies on the radio and television talk shows doing Egypt any good. The army is currently in the political driver's seat, with growing momentum for army chief Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who has become a figure for outpourings of love and respect from TV pundits and average Egyptians alike, to be the country's next president. But rebooting the Mubarak-era status quo will not be easy, and will come in the face of an Egyptian public that's developed a taste for mass protest. A new Constitution settles none of this. II/III. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-25754118 16 January 2014 Last updated at 17:49 GMT Egypt awaits results of constitution referendum Egyptians are awaiting the results of a referendum on a new constitution, with officials saying it has been overwhelmingly approved. The draft constitution replaces one introduced by Mohammed Morsi before the Islamist president was ousted. State media report that 37% of registered voters took part, slightly more than in the vote under Mr Morsi. The referendum is being seen as a vote on the legitimacy of his removal and of the army, which removed him. It was boycotted by members of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist movement Mr Morsi comes from and which wants to see him returned to office. It could be argued that over the course of the past two referendums, 70% of Egyptians have now given their verdict on rival visions of their constitutional future. They just didn't do it in the same poll” On the first day of voting on Tuesday, nine people died in clashes involving Mr Morsi's supporters. The second day passed off largely peacefully. Some 400 people are said to have been arrested over the two days for disrupting the vote. On Thursday, police fired tear gas during clashes with students protesting outside Cairo University in the Giza district. Voter apathy The state-run Al Ahram newspaper put the unofficial turnout at just under 37% of registered voters. It projected a more than 90% win by the "yes" campaign in all regions, except for North Sinai, where votes have not yet been counted. In the December 2012 constitutional referendum - held while Mohammed Morsi was in power and boycotted by secularists - 33% of Egypt's 53 million voters took part. The draft was approved by 64% of voters. The BBC's Kevin Connolly in Cairo says voter participation may not have been as high as the military and the interim government it backs may have liked, but given Egypt's history of low turnouts it is probably enough for them to argue their vision for the country's future has been endorsed. The high proportion of yes votes is more a reflection of the fact that those opposed to the constitution, including the Brotherhood, boycotted the poll, rather than an indication of a tidal wave of enthusiasm for the document, says our correspondent. Army chief Gen Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is likely see the result as an invitation to run for president when elections take place, he adds. A supporter of the constitution gestures in front of a statue of Egypt's former Army Chief of Staff Abdel Moneim Riad near Tahrir Square Wednesday's voting passed off mostly peacefully, in contrast to Tuesday. This voter in Tahrir Square was celebrating his participation in the vote Officials count ballots after polls closed in Cairo The credibility of the referendum is important for the authorities as they try to chart a political roadmap toward new elections for a president Egyptian police and a soldier stand guard outside a polling station Once again security was tight around polling stations Egyptians gather outside a police station after it was set on fire A police station was set on fire in the Cairo suburb of Heliopolis but voting was generally peaceful on Wednesday Supporters of army chief Gen Abdel Fattah al-Sisi celebrate at the end of the second day of voting in Egypt's constitutional referendum in the Shubra district, Cairo, on Wednesday As darkness fell after the second day of voting, many Egyptians were keen to celebrate the apparent cementing of a new, post-Morsi era The new proposed constitution was drafted by a 50-member committee that included only two representatives of Islamist parties. Critics say the document favours the army at the expense of the people, and fails to deliver on the 2011 revolution. Under the draft: - The president may serve two four-year terms and can be impeached by parliament - Islam remains the state religion - but freedom of belief is absolute, giving some protection to minorities - The state guarantees "equality between men and women" - Parties may not be formed based on "religion, race, gender or geography" - Military to appoint defence minister for next eight years A huge security operation was in evidence throughout the two days of voting, with some 160,000 soldiers and more than 200,000 policemen deployed nationwide. Morsi supporters blocked a metro station in a Cairo suburb, stopping some trains, security officials said, but were quickly dispersed by police. Mohammed Morsi, who was Egypt's first democratically elected president, is being held in jail in Alexandria, facing several criminal charges relating to his time in office. He says they are politically motivated. More than 1,000 people have died in violence since Mr Morsi's overthrow. III. http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/news/middle-east/268863/clashes-in-egypt-ahead-of-referendum-results Clashes in Egypt ahead of referendum results January 18, 2014 - 12:22:50 am CAIRO: Clashes between Egyptian police and Islamists killed at least two people yesterday, as the country awaited results of a constitutional referendum billed as a popular endorsement of president Mohamed Mursi’s overthrow. Clashes between Mursi’s Islamist supporters and tear gas- firing police were reported in several cities, security officials said, a day before the referendum’s results were expected. The interim authorities trumpeted the Tuesday and Wednesday poll as a chance for voters to show their support for the army’s overthrow in July, after massive street protests, of Egypt’s first freely elected president. Flagship state-owned daily Al Ahram hailed a 98 percent vote in support of the new charter drafted to replace the Islamist-inspired one adopted under Mursi in 2012. The Islamists, who boycotted the vote, described it as a farce and predicted it would culminate in the sort of massive electoral fraud that characterised Hosni Mubarak’s three-decade rule, ended by the Arab Spring uprising of 2011. A coalition led by Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood called for further protests, such as the rallies yesterday that turned violent in several cities. One man was killed in Cairo and another in clashes in Fayoum, southwest of the capital, the health ministry said, as police clamped down in what has become a weekly ritual in a massive crackdown on pro-Mursi protests. In Cairo’s Alf Maskan area, demonstrators aimed fire works at police, who scattered for cover when they heard bursts of automatic gunfire from the protesters’ side. A policemen fired an assault rifle in the protesters’ direction. The government hoped a large turnout among Egypt’s 53 million registered voters would bolster its democratic credentials and further marginalise the Islamists. Army chief Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, the man who toppled Mursi, was closely monitoring that as an indicator of support for a presidential bid later this year, military officials said. Preliminary tallies reported by state news agency Mena suggested turnout had reached 39 percent in most provinces, sharply up on 33 percent registered in the Mursi-era referendum just over a year ago. The government said the vote showed support for Mursi’s overthrow. “This was also a referendum on June 30,” said government spokesman Hany Salah, referring to the day when millions of protesters took to the streets demanding that the president resign. The run-up to the vote was marred by arrests of activists who campaigned against the constitution. “There was no real opportunity for those opposed to the government’s roadmap or the proposed constitution to dissent,” said monitoring group Democracy International, which observed the referendum. The group said its monitors witnessed security forces and campaigning material inside polling stations, but there was “no evidence that such problems substantially affected the outcome of this referendum.” The government will still have to contend with near daily protests and a militant campaign in the restive Sinai that has killed scores of policemen and soldiers. For the second time in a month, suspected militants in the restive peninsula blew up a gas pipeline that feeds into an industrial zone. The Islamist opposition scorned the figures put out by state media and called for mass demonstrations on January 25 — the third anniversary of Mubarak’s overthrow. “Let the putschists deceive themselves and hold fools’ celebrations,” it said, claiming the referendum was a throwback to rigged elections under Mubarak. The US administration is closely watching the results of Egypt’s referendum, but has not yet decided whether to unfreeze some $1.5bn (¤1.1bn) in aid, the State Department said on Thursday. Washington suspended part of its aid — the bulk of it military — in October, angered that there had been little indication of a return to democracy after Mursi’s overthrow. “There are a range of factors we look to,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in Washington, adding that merely holding the referendum was not enough. The vote has put the Islamists on the back foot, and gives the government even less incentive to negotiate with the Muslim Brotherhood, which it has designated as a “terrorist” group. Morsi himself has been in custody since his ouster and is currently standing trial in the first of three separate cases against him. AFP -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
