Egyptian Constitutional Referendum (2014)

After the overthrow of Mohammed Mursi on July 3, 2013, the suspension of the constitution was announced in Egypt ^[2] . Within the framework of the roadmap to lead the country out of the crisis, a special commission was formed that began to develop the text of a new constitution ^[3] . The commission included 50 people, including politicians, the military, representatives of the Copts and two Islamists from the Muslim Brotherhood movement ^[4] .

The text of the new constitution, the adoption of which a referendum is being passed, was submitted for approval to the interim President of Egypt Adli Mansour on December 3, 2013 ^[5] . The text of the new fundamental law contains articles restricting the role of Islam in the life of the country and enhancing the influence of the military and parliamentarians . The draft refers to the establishment of a “civil government” in Egypt and the restriction of the application of Sharia law . The military gives the constitution the right to nominate a defense minister for the next two presidents. At the same time, the parliament receives the right to remove and judge the president. This will require the votes of two-thirds of the deputies, as well as a positive outcome of the relevant referendum ^[4] .

Most Egyptians living abroad approved the draft of the new constitution: according to various sources, out of a hundred thousand voters, from 90% to 99% voted in support of the new basic law ^[6] .

Voting stations in Egypt opened on January 14, 2014 at 9 a.m. local time (11 a.m. Moscow). It is expected that more than 52 million people will participate in the vote ^[4] . Voting continued on Wednesday, January 15 ^[7] . Polling stations closed at 21:00 local time (1:00 January 16 Moscow time) ^[8] .

During the clashes that accompanied the first day of the referendum, ten people died ^[7] :

• five people died in the suburbs of Cairo , where supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood organization tried to disrupt the vote but were rebuffed by local residents; riots were stopped by the military and the police; also in Cairo, a bomb exploded near the courthouse, no one was hurt;
• in Beni Sueif, protesters stormed a polling station; one of the activists was shot dead.
• four people were killed in the city of Sohag as a result of shooting, which the militants opened by passers-by on their way to the referendum ^[7] .

The draft new constitution of Egypt was supported by a vast majority of voters in a referendum. This was announced on the night of January 16, the head of the Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Egypt on public relations Abdelfatt Osman with reference to preliminary results. At least 95 percent of Egyptians voted for the draft constitution ^[9] . The turnout was at least 55 percent ^[8] .

Official referendum results were announced 72 hours after the closure of polling stations ^[10] . According to them, the draft constitution of Egypt was supported by 98.1% of voters. The turnout was 38.6% ^[11] .

• Egypt holds referendum on new constitution
• Egypt will say yes to the constitution. But will the split disappear?