CAIRO | Partial results from a third of Egypt’s provinces Sunday show massive turnout and a vote overwhelmingly in favor of constitutional changes that would eliminate restrictions on political rights and civil liberties.
The count from most of the country, including Cairo, was still to be released.
But according to results issued by judges at polling centers, 11 of 29 provinces show 65 percent to 90 percent of voters saying “yes” to the changes, which would allow voting for parliament and president no later than September.
Opponents fear the referendum’s passage will allow the highly organized Muslim Brotherhood to dominate Egypt’s dozens of new political parties in the presidential and parliamentary vote.
The partial, preliminary results also show a 70 percent turnout at many polling centers, a massive showing after decades of political apathy in response to repression.
Millions of Egyptians voted freely Saturday for the first time in more than half a century, joyfully waiting for hours to cast their ballots on the package of constitutional changes.
Young people traded mobile-phone pictures of ink-stained fingers that showed they had voted. Others called relatives to boast of casting the first vote of their lives. In the well-off Cairo neighborhood of Maadi, a man hoisted his elderly, infirm father on his shoulder and carried him to a polling station.
The first test of Egypt’s transition to democracy offered ominous hints of widening sectarian division, however.
Many were drawn to the polls in a massive, last-minute effort by the Muslim Brotherhood, the most coherent political organization after the widely despised National Democratic Party (NDP) of former President Hosni Mubarak, who was ousted last month in a popular uprising.
Critics say that would allow the Brotherhood and NDP to easily outpoll the dozens of political groups born out of the anti-Mubarak uprising, dividing power between former regime loyalists and supporters of a fundamentalist state — a nightmare scenario for Western powers and many inside Egypt.
Among those most fearful of the Brotherhood’s rising power are Egypt’s estimated 8 million Coptic Christians, whose leaders rallied the faithful to vote “no.”
The NDP is blamed for the rampant corruption and the fraud that marred every election during Mr. Mubarak’s 29-year rule, and its members have been accused of attempting to disrupt Egypt’s transition to democracy for fear of losing further power.
The constitutional amendments were drawn up by a panel of military-appointed legal scholars and intended to bring just enough change to the current constitution — which was adopted in 1971 and suspended by the military after it came to power — to ensure that upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections are free and fair.
In an interview with daily El-Shorouk, a top member of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces said the council will issue “a constitutional declaration” right after the announcement of the final vote to lay down the next steps.
He said that if the referendum is approved, a timetable will be set for elections. If the majority voted no, the armed forces might remain in power for up to two years.
Voters were asked to choose “yes” or “no” for the whole package of nine changes, which also would impose presidential term limits and curtail 30-year-old emergency laws that give police near-unlimited powers.
While Mr. Mubarak’s overthrow has left Egyptians euphoric about their newfound freedoms, many also are worried about the social tensions and instability that could spiral in the wake of the autocratic leader’s departure.
Christian-Muslim clashes this month left at least 13 killed and more than 100 wounded in the worst sectarian clashes in years. On Jan. 1, a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a church in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, killing at least 22 worshippers and wounding scores. A few days later, a policeman fatally shot an elderly Christian man on a train.
The Brotherhood, which has strongly campaigned for the adoption of the changes, advocates the installment of an Islamic government in Egypt. The ambivalence of its position on what role women and minority Christians play under their hoped-for Islamic government — like whether they could run for president or be judges — worry large segments of society.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.