Egypt4u

After two tiresome election phases, Egypt's contentious draft constitution passed with 64 per cent approval ratings.



Around 10.5 million Egyptians endorsed the bill, a number that is lower than the 13.2 million that voted President Mohamed Morsi into office last summer to serve for a four-year term.

Only three out of 27 governorates saw a majority of 'No' vote. Upper Egypt governorates witnessed the highest approval ratings, with 'Yes' winning by comfortable margins across the board.

The toughest challenge to the new constitution was in the capital city, the largest in Egypt, rejecting the constitution with 57 per cent. The vote in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria came as a surprise to many with 'Yes' winning by 55.6 per cent.

Fayoum governorate, 45 minutes south of Cairo, voted an impressive 89 per cent in favor of the bill. Marsa Matrouh, an established Islamist stronghold, recorded just above six thousand 'No' votes.

Turnover fell to some 32 per cent, well below the 49 per cent seen in the Presidential runoffs back in June.

No governorate saw a turnover above 40 per cent and Upper Egypt's Beni Suef witnessed the highest participation rate at 37.82 per cent.

Source: http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/61119.aspx

Even though I leave politics to the Egyptian people, it's their country it's up to them what they want, I find it strange that 76.63% said yes to the draft constitution in Luxor, In the last few weeks I have spoke to hundreds of Egyptians from all walks of life and only 1 out of all of them said he would vote YES.

Possibly explained by most of the ones who would have voted against it not bothering to vote, so if the turn out was low, most of the ones who did actually vote, voted for it, so it may be a case of apathy resulting in winning approval. It is not unlike recent UK voting where most people felt so dissenchanted by the choice they were given and most feeling that none of the main parties represented their views, so they just did not bother. The result was that we finished up with the worse option which was a hung parliament with the Lib Dems calling the shots and being over represented, so we have a party that would never win anything in it's own right influencing government policies at a level above what would be normal. I think that a similar situation is now existing in Egypt and will be the cause of future strife especially if the MB consider the result to be a general approval and start to impliment a more rigid Sharia agenda, but as you say the politics belong to the Egyptian people and it is they who will prosper or fail as a result of their first free election results.

Those who vote in elections can be a fickle bunch in that what they want, what they say they want and then what they actually vote for can be totally opposite.

As for the Egyptian vote - hmmm 'bout all I can say is "Go figure"