Egyptians went Saturday morning to polling booths to vote in the first stage of the referendum on a draft constitution with a high turnout, which uncovered their desire to draw their future along with their thirstiness to stability.
Seven people have been injured
so far due to overcrowding, the health ministry was quoted by official MENA news
agency as saying.
The injury cases were reported in Egyptian governoates of Cairo, Alexandria,
Sharqeya, Daqahlya and Gharbeya, said health ministry spokesman Ahmed Omar.
There have been rumors that a judge died while overseeing a polling station in
the governorate of Daqahlya on Saturday morning, but state-run Nile TV denied
the news after communicating with chief of judges supervising the vote in the
governorate.
The voting, which began at 8:00 a.m. local time (0600 GMT), was originally set
to end at 7:00 p.m. (1700 GMT), has been extended to 9:00 p.m. (1900 GMT).
Great turnout was witnessed in the involved 10 governorates, including Cairo and
Alexandria, with 26 million people eligible to cast ballots.
Ahamed Khader, a 76-year-old senior citizen voting at Cairo's suburb of Maadi,
told Xinhua that "exercising the right of voting is a duty of every citizen,"
expressing hope that the country would have a brighter future via this
referendum.
Outside the polling station where Khader voted, hundreds of voters lined up, as
soldiers and policemen, along with plainclothes men, are securing the voting
progress. Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi has given the army the power to
arrest civilians, calling them to help the police maintain the security of the
referendum.
A veiled woman named Samiha told Xinhua that she has ticked the "Yes" on the
ballot, which is signed as a red circle. The "No" is signed as a blue one.
The referendum was planned to run in two stages, according to a republican
decree issued by Morsi on Wednesday.
The first stage of the referendum will cover the governorates of Cairo,
Alexandria, Daqahlya, Gharbeya, Sharqeya, Assiut, Souhag, Aswan, Southern and
Northern Sinai, while the second phase will be held a week later in the rest of
the country. About 6,376 polling stations were set for the first stage,
including 175 general stations, MENA reported.
A senior officer from the Interior Ministry confirmed to MENA that the situation
of all stations was normal under intensive security measures.
A member of a nongovernmental human rights organization, who named himself Ali,
said that he was worried about potential confrontations during the voting
process.
Ali said the current situation came more complicated than the parliamentarian
and presidential elections which he had also taken part in supervising.
In Zamalik, downtown Cairo, long queues were seen outside polling stations, and
voters were well organized according to age and gender.
In the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, voting took place amid tension due to
Friday night's clashes between supporters and opponents of the constitution that
continued until early hours of Saturday morning. Still, no armored vehicles or
heavy equipments were seen outside polling stations, with only policemen and
navy officers securing polling stations.
Meanwhile, some stations' voting time were forced to be postponed, because the
overseeing judges came late, which reflected the problem of allocation of
judges.
Chairman of Egypt's Judges' Club Ahmed al-Zend said Tuesday that "90 percent of
Egyptian judges refuse to supervise the referendum."
Al-Zend added in a meeting held by the club that the draft constitution violates
the independency of judiciary, criticizing a movement of independent judges
named "Judges in the interest of Egypt" for approving referendum supervision.
Morsi has cast his ballot at a high school in the Misr al- Gedida district where
the presidential palace is located, MENA reported.
Morsi issued a new constitutional declaration last Sunday, annulling the
previous one issued on Nov. 22 designed to expand the president's powers by
making all his decrees issued since he came into office final and above judicial
appeal.
The new constitutional declaration also ruled that if the new constitution was
voted down in the referendum, the president would call for electing a new
assembly through direct ballot to draft a new constitution. The new 100-member
panel will be elected within three months after the announcement of referendum
results.
But the new draft has not shaken the opposition. Fresh demonstrations held by
Morsi's supporters and opponents raged recently in different districts in Cairo
ahead of the disputed constitutional referendum.
Egyptian former diplomat Mohamed El-Baradei, leader of the main opposition bloc,
the National Salvation Front, renewed his call Saturday for voting "No" to the
draft constitution, despite their long-time calls for postponing the referendum.
El-Baradei said via his account of twitter "to all Egyptians, listen to the sane
voice, and vote No to the draft constitution in order to salvage the country,
and bring victory to it."
For its part, Egyptian foreign minister announced that the deadline of
constitutional referendum abroad had been extended to 8 p.m. local time (1800
GMT) on Dec. 17, rather than Saturday.
About 589,000 Egyptian expatriates are expected to go to the Egyptian embassies
and consulates overseas to cast their ballots in a voting process started on
Dec. 12.
Late in November, 85 members of the beleaguered Constituent Assembly (CA)
approved the draft constitution after a 17-hour marathon vote. Morsi then called
on Egyptians to cast their votes in the referendum.
Most liberals, leftists and Copts consider the draft written by the
Islamist-dominated assembly that doesn't represent all Egyptians, especially
after major representatives of the civil camp had withdrawn from the assembly
due to unbridgeable division with the Islamic side on some of the articles.
The assembly agreed on several divisive articles of the draft, such as the
status of Sharia (Islamic law) in Egyptian legislation.
"Islam is the state religion. Arabic is the official language. Principle of
Sharia is the main source of legislation," the second article stated.
A Christian woman, dubbed as Ashuadelle, told Xinhua that she vetoed to express
her refusal of the draft constitution. "I refuse the draft constitution, either
of its way of formation, or its contents."
She added that the draft must be re-written by the professional, far away from
any political parties or forces.
Another Christian woman named Shahna said that she demands raising the position
of the women, which was annulled before the draft was approved by the CA.
The final draft deleted an article in former versions establishing equality
between men and women because of disputes over the phrasing.
In contrast, a Muslim voter dubbed as Mustafa said that he voted Yes because
this draft is "far more meaningful and democratic than the ones in the (Hosni)
Mubarak era."
A manager of a procurement company named Karim said that "I respect those who
voted for No, but I myself support this draft constitution, as well as Morsi,
and I think he can bring the unrest-torn country to a revival."