Constitutional referendum in Egypt 2012

A constitutional referendum was held in Egypt on December 15 and 22, 2012 .

To hold the referendum, the Egyptian governorates have been divided into two groups. In the first group, which includes 10 governorates, namely Cairo, Alexandria, Gharbiya, Sharqiya, Daqahliya, Assiut, Sohag, Aswan, North and South Sinai, on the 15th, in the second group, which covers the remaining 17 governorates, including Giza, El-Fayyoum and Suez, was voted on December 22nd.

Egyptians living outside the country should originally be allowed to vote from December 8th to 11th. However, the end date of this period was postponed to December 17, as the first few days there was a great rush in some Egyptian embassies abroad.

On December 25, 2012, the referendum-overseeing body officially announced that the draft constitution had been adopted by a majority of the Egyptian people. A day later, President Morsi signed the constitution, which went into effect. Parliamentary elections should therefore have taken place by February 26, 2013 .

Before the referendum vote, the strongest party in the Constituent Assembly , the Freedom and Justice Party (which is close to the Muslim Brotherhood ), said that there would be direct elections for a new Constituent Assembly if the new constitution is not adopted. This case did not occur.

Result by governorate

Government that voted "Yes"

Government that voted 'yes' below the national average

Government that voted "No"

Constitutional subject

Voters are asked whether they will adopt a new constitution drawn up by the Constituent Assembly. The underlying draft was approved in a 19-hour meeting on the night of November 30, 2012. As in the previous constitution of 1971, principles of Islamic law ( Sharia ) should be the main source of legislation. Unlike in the past, the term of office of the President is to be limited to two terms, i.e. a maximum of eight years.

According to Vice President Mahmud Makki , 15 of the 234 articles of the draft constitution are considered controversial. Mekki invited the opposition to find consensus on these articles by the date of the vote. The opposition particularly criticized regulations to preserve the “true values of the Egyptian family”, to guarantee “ethics and morality and public order”, as well as the constitutional prohibition on insulting individuals and the prophets as being too vague and flexible. The critics fear that the state could use these regulations to justify the restriction of the freedom of expression guaranteed in the draft . The draft constitution provides for religious freedom only for the so-called book religions , but not for smaller religious communities. There is a general principle of equal treatment and prohibition of discrimination for all citizens, but an initially proposed article on equality for women has been deleted from the final version.

irregularities

Human rights groups and opposition activists accused the Muslim Brotherhood of manipulating the constitutional referendum election.

Numerous Muslim Brotherhoods in the polling stations are said to have pretended to be lawyers overseeing the election process, but who then only destroyed no votes in many places. Citizens are said to have reported more than 4,000 violations, which were ignored by election observers. Liberals, Christians and leftists are also said to have been prevented from voting in some areas .

The National Salvation Front , in which the most important liberal and secular opposition parties are united, declared "The extent of the manipulation shows the clear will of the Muslim Brotherhood to falsify the will of the electorate in order to pass the Constitution of the Brotherhood".

Opponents and supporters

The Egyptian judges club has announced that it will boycott the referendum. Supervision by judges is necessary for the voting to be valid. This requires the participation of 7,000 judges nationwide.

The alliance of the National Salvation Front was strictly against the referendum: The constitutional party took part in a no-vote campaign, members of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party also voted no , while the Free Egyptians boycotted the vote. The Strong Egypt party also launched a campaign to vote no in a referendum. The Hazemoun movement, a supporter of radical preacher Hazem Salah Abu Ismail , is also against the constitution as it does not make Sharia law the only source of legislation.

The declared supporters include the Salafist Party of Light , the Building and Development Party , which is the political arm of the Islamist Gamaa Islamija , and the Party for Integrity and Development .

Results after rounds

Result of the first round not yet officially confirmed:

option	be right	proportion of
Therefore	4,595,311	56.50%
On the other hand	3,536,838	43.50%
Invalid votes		-
total	8,132,149	100.00%
registered voters / turnout		33%
Source: al-Ahram

Result of the second round not yet officially confirmed:

option	be right	proportion of
Therefore	5,783,273	71.43%
On the other hand	2,313,377	28.57%
Invalid votes		-
total	8.096.650	100.00%
registered voters / turnout		32%
Source: al-Ahram

Overall result

Majorities by governorate: green (yes), red (no)

Officially confirmed overall result (a total of 16,754,922 or 98.22% valid votes):

option	be right	proportion of
Therefore	10,693,911	63.83%
On the other hand	6,061,011	36.17%
Invalid votes	303,395	1.78%
total	17.058.317	100.00%
registered voters / turnout		32.9%
Source: al-Ahram

The total number of eligible voters was 51,919,067.

gallery

Second round of the referendum on the Egyptian constitution (December 22, 2012):
Electoral office with ballot box
Supervision of the constitutional referendum in Cairo by the Egyptian army
Ballot paper in Cairo for the constitutional referendum with no vote (red circle) and yes vote (blue circle)
Voters in Cairo use ink to color their fingers after they have cast their ballot to prevent multiple votes
Egyptian voting in Giza