Egyptian constitutional referendum, 2014

Egyptian constitutional referendum, 2014
Results
Votes Of total
Yes 19,985,389 98.13%
No 381,341 1.87%
Valid votes 20,366,730 98.8%
Invalid or blank votes 246,947 1.2%
Total votes 20,613,677 100.00%
Voter turnout 38.59%
Electorate 53,423,485
Results by Governorate
  Yes
  No
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A constitutional referendum was held in Egypt on 14 and 15 January 2014[1] and with Egyptians abroad voting between 8 and 12 January.[2] The new constitution was approved by 98.1% of voters. Turnout was 38.6%.[3]

Background

Mohammad Morsi was removed from power during the 2013 Egyptian coup d'état.[4] The timetable established by interim president Adly Mansour envisioned a rapid transition, which initially entailed amending the suspended 2012 constitution.[4]

The process of amending the 2012 constitution began with a committee of 10 legal experts.[5] The draft amendments by the committee of 10 made many notable changes to the text of the 2012 constitution.[6] The committee of 10 completed their work on 20 August 2013.[7]

The second phase of the process included amendments by a committee of 50; those 50 people were announced on 1 September 2013.[8] Amr Moussa was chosen as the chairman of the committee of 50 on 8 September 2013.[9] The draft constitution was given to President Mansour on 3 December 2013.[10]

Campaign

Supporters

The Dignity Party backed the constitution.[11] The Free Egyptians Party supported it.[12] The Socialist Popular Alliance Party as well as the Socialist Party of Egypt also supported the constitution.[11] The Popular Current had said that it supported the constitution.[13] The Nour Party said it would support the constitution.[14] Tamarod started a campaign on 5 December 2013 in support of the constitution.[15] The Egyptian Trade Union Federation called on its supporters to vote for the constitution.[16] The National Salvation Front said that it would call for a yes vote on the constitution.[17] The Egyptian Social Democratic Party voted for the constitution.[18]

Opponents

Khaled Ali, a former presidential candidate, was opposed to the constitution; he stated that it was "inappropriate" for Egypt.[19] The Revolutionary Socialists also expressed their opposition to it.[20] The Road of the Revolution Front announced on 8 January 2014 that it would vote against the constitution.[21] The Freedom and Justice Party and the Islamic Bloc, which had won 65.3% of the vote in Egypt's parliamentary elections in 2011-2012, opposed the new Constitution and the referendum as being the fruits of an illegal military coup.[22]

Boycotts

The Anti-Coup Alliance, which includes the Muslim Brotherhood-linked Freedom and Justice Party, announced on 22 December 2013 that it would boycott the vote.[23] The Strong Egypt Party and the April 6 Youth Movement also indicated that they would boycott the vote.[24] The Strong Egypt Party was initially going to mobilize for a "no" vote,[25] but changed their stance after members of the party were arrested for having posters which supported the "no" campaign.[26]

According to the official results, turnout was 38.9%. Turnout in the constitutional referendum of 2012 had been 32.9%.[3]

Conduct

Tamarod,[27] the European Union[28] and 27,000 observers were expected to monitor the referendum; judges affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood were excluded from supervising polling stations.[29]

According to Human Rights Watch, 11 people were killed in the clashes on 14 January 2014.[30] However, according to the Health ministry, 8 people died in the first day of voting[30] and two people died in the second day of voting.[31]

In the weeks before the voting there were massive arrests of persons opposing the Constitution or the referendum.[32]

Results

Voter participation was about 38.6 percent according to Egyptian government figures that were challenged by the Muslim Brotherhood, which had called of a boycott because the vote was taking place after a military coup. There were almost 20 million total votes in favor. The vote was held with support for a "yes" vote by the Egyptian government and state media as well as a crackdown on those against it.[33]

For comparison, about 16.7 million voters participated in the vote approving the constitution drafted under Morsi. This represented a turnout of 32.9 percent despite a boycott of the vote by non-Islamist factions. Of those that participated in that election, 63.8 percent voted for the Morsi-backed constitution, or about 10.65 million "yes" votes.[33]

Choice Votes %
Referendum passed Yes 19,985,389 98.13
No 381,341 1.87
Valid votes 20,366,730 98.8
Invalid or blank votes 246,947 1.2
Total votes 20,613,677 100.00
Registered voters and turnout 53,423,485 38.6
Source: Al Ahram

By governorate

Turnout rate by governorate for the Egyptian constitutional referendum of 14–15 January 2014.
Governorate Eligible voters Voter turnout Turnout % Total votes Valid votes Invalid votes "Yes" votes "Yes" % "No" votes "No" %
Cairo 6,674,8652,688,74340.3%2,791,2332,762,95228,2812,720,16298.5%42,7901.5%
Giza 4,518,9411,450,19532.1%1,507,4161,488,66218,7541,459,20198.0%29,4612.0%
Dakahlia 3,793,0801,876,90149.5%1,891,6171,874,59717,0201,850,53598.7%24,0621.3%
Sharqia 3,681,5871,666,49345.3%1,691,3601,673,96817,3921,646,73698.4%27,2321.6%
Alexandria 3,415,6291,308,97138.3%1,353,6321,340,44913,1831,319,45498.4%20,9951.6%
Beheira 3,376,9411,260,62437.3%1,276,9801,260,50316,4771,234,01997.9%26,4842.1%
Gharbia 3,020,6741,574,17352.1%1,586,4961,572,17614,3201,551,09398.7%21,0831.3%
Minya 2,808,534734,51226.2%740,233723,19317,040698,62196.6%24,5723.4%
Qalyubia 2,718,7981,204,97144.3%1,231,0321,217,22013,8121,198,01198.4%19,2091.6%
Sohag 2,485,950592,39123.8%600,503591,4969,007574,79797.2%16,6992.8%
Monufia 2,298,2081,226,15453.4%1,242,2191,228,81113,4081,212,26898.7%16,5431.3%
Asyut 2,219,387538,87324.3%547,539536,53211,007515,57196.1%20,9613.9%
Kafr el-Sheikh 1,935,985817,90442.2%823,516815,0388,478803,94098.6%11,0981.4%
Qena 1,676,423400,66823.9%410,770405,0645,706395,43997.6%9,6252.4%
Faiyum 1,628,192385,60123.7%391,609383,3848,225370,80296.7%12,5823.3%
Beni Suef 1,506,498490,67032.6%496,172486,3609,812469,97496.6%16,3863.4%
Aswan 891,699251,58828.2%257,563254,0883,475248,57197.8%5,5172.2%
Damietta 891,241408,61745.8%415,825411,2334,592404,68798.4%6,5461.6%
Ismailia 735,103290,68939.5%299,606295,6713,935289,86398.0%5,8082.0%
Luxor 703,670215,66830.6%220,606218,2032,403214,51098.3%3,6931.7%
Port Said 453,377231,43951.0%239,772237,1882,584233,67298.5%3,5161.5%
Suez 396,466136,65834.5%144,919143,2841,635140,16797.8%3,1172.2%
Red Sea 244,60377,68131.8%108,147106,7581,389103,85897.3%2,9002.7%
North Sinai 223,53369,21731.0%75,96874,5571,41172,16196.8%2,3963.2%
Matruh 224,38536,44516.2%44,72543,91081542,24296.2%1,6683.8%
New Valley 147,52551,92335.2%52,87751,7691,10849,92096.4%1,8493.6%
South Sinai 70,84523,80433.6%64,30163,1231,17860,65196.1%2,4723.9%

Reactions

See also

References

  1. ↑ Gregg Carlstrom (14 December 2013). "Egypt president sets date for referendum". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  2. ↑ "Polls closed overseas Sunday". Mada Masr. 12 January 2014. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  3. 1 2 "Egyptians overwhelmingly back constitution - official results". Aswat Masriya. 18 January 2014. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
  4. 1 2 "Egypt's timetable for transition to elections". Associated Press. 9 July 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  5. ↑ "Mansour to form committee in charge of constitutional amendments". Egypt Independent. 18 July 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  6. ↑ "22 Key Points in Egypt's New Draft Constitution". Al Monitor. 23 August 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  7. ↑ "Amended draft of Egyptian constitution passed to president". Aswat Masriya. 21 August 2013. Retrieved 22 January 2014.
  8. ↑ "Members of constitutional committee of 50 announced". Egypt Independent. 1 September 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  9. ↑ "50-member constitutional committee chooses Amr Moussa as chairman". Egypt Independent. 8 September 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  10. ↑ "Mansour receives amended constitution". Daily News Egypt. 3 December 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  11. 1 2 "Parties start campaigns to support new constitution". Egypt Independent. 3 December 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  12. ↑ "Egypt's Free Egyptians Party distributes Braille draft constitution at rally". Ahram Online. 9 January 2014. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  13. ↑ "Al-Tayar Al-Sha'aby calls for Yes vote in constitutional referendum, supports Sabahy for Presidency". Daily News Egypt. 21 December 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  14. ↑ "Nour Party not running for presidency : leading member". Egypt Independent. 9 December 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  15. ↑ "Tamarod launches campaign urging participation in constitution referendum". Egypt Independent. 5 December 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  16. ↑ "Vote Yes to the constitution: ETUF". Daily News Egypt. 24 December 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  17. ↑ "Salvation Front calls for voting 'yes' to amendments". Egypt Independent. 10 December 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  18. ↑ "Egyptian Social Democratic Party will vote 'Yes' in constitution referendum". Ahram Online. 22 December 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  19. ↑ "Khaled Ali says constitution not appropriate for Egypt". Egypt Independent. 7 December 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  20. ↑ "Revolutionary Socialists call for "no" vote on constitution". Aswat Masriya. 18 December 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  21. ↑ "Way of the Revolution Front to vote no to constitution". Ahram Online. 8 January 2014. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  22. ↑ "Freedom and Justice Party: Declaration Unconstitutional, Null and Void".
  23. ↑ "Egypt's pro-Morsi coalition to boycott constitutional referendum". Ahram Online. 22 December 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  24. ↑ "Strong Egypt, April 6 boycott referendum". Egypt Independent. 13 January 2014. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
  25. ↑ "Strong Egypt Party members arrested after posting ‘no’ campaign material". Mada Masr. 8 January 2014. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
  26. ↑ "Strong Egypt Party to boycott the referendum". Ahram Online. 13 January 2014. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
  27. ↑ "Tamarod to oversee constitution referendum". Egypt Independent. 9 December 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  28. ↑ "EU monitors Constitution referendum". Egypt Independent. 9 December 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  29. ↑ "27,000 observers to monitor referendum". The Cairo Post. 10 January 2014. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  30. 1 2 "Death toll rises to 11 overnight following bloody afternoon". Daily News Egypt. 15 January 2014. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
  31. ↑ "Health Ministry: Two deaths, 8 injured on second day of referendum". Egypt Independent. 16 January 2014. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
  32. ↑ "Egypt: Activists Arrested for ‘No’ Campaign: Repression Intensifies Ahead of Constitutional Referendum". Human Rights Watch. 13 January 2014. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
  33. 1 2 "Egypt constitution gets 98.1% 'yes' vote". The Associated Press. 18 January 2014. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
  34. ↑ "Putin congratulates Egyptians on constitution".
  35. ↑ "HH Sheikh Abdullah bin ZayedAl Nahyan congratulates Egyptian people on success of constitutional referendum".
  36. ↑ "Iraqi PM congratulates Egypt on new charter".

External links

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