Calling the vote
Gli egiziani si apprestanoa votare la Costituzione appena redatta, in un contesto di violenza, fra la repressione dei Fratelli Musulmani e le numerose divisioni politiche.
Anche se Amr Moussa, presidente della commissione dei 50 membri che ha redatto la nuova Costituzione, ha presentato al presidente ad interim Adli Mansour la copia finale il 3 dicembre, quest'ultimo non ha ancora fissato una data per il referendum.
Ambiguity in the wording of Article 30 of last July’s constitutional
declaration has been blamed for the delay. The article states “the
president of the republic must call a referendum within 30 days from the
date the constitution is officially submitted to him.”
Prime Minister Hazem Al-Beblawi said two weeks ago that the president
is required simply to set a date for the referendum within a month of
receiving the charter. Al-Beblawi added that he expected the referendum
to be held in the second half of January.
Mohamed Salmawy, official spokesman of the 50-member committee, argues
that “the text of Article 30 is clear… the referendum must be held
within a month or before 2 January.”
An informed source says “Mansour’s constitutional and legal advisers
agree that the president is not required by Article 30 to invite
citizens to vote on the new constitution within one month of its receipt
and the likelihood is that the referendum will be held in the second
week of January.”
Judge Hisham Mokhtar says Mansour will issue a decree inviting citizens to vote on the new constitution “any day now”.
“The referendum itself will be held in two stages, each beginning at 9am and ending by 9pm.”
Nabil Salib, Chairman of Cairo’s Appeal Court and head of the Supreme
Elections Committee (SEC), said on Sunday that more than 15,000 judges
will take charge in monitoring the referendum. “They will supervise
15,300 main and auxiliary polling stations and revise voter lists,” said
Salib.
“The number of eligible voters in Egypt has risen from 51.9 million in
2012 to 53 million,” reports Abu Bakr Al-Guindi, chairman of the General
Mobilisation and Statistics Agency. He predicts a high turnout, with
more than 65 per cent of registered voters likely to go to the polls.
Salmawy has warned that “thousands of copies are circulating of what
claims to be the newly-drafted constitution but which are in fact
inaccurate.”
“These copies include several linguistic mistakes and exclude articles 229 and 230.”
“The state-owned General Egyptian Book Organisation has been
commissioned to print thousands of new copies of the final and correct
draft,” adds Salmawy. “Each page of the publication will have been
signed off by Amr Moussa and the booklet will include all the amendments
introduced by the committee in its last two days — 30 November and 1
December — of voting on articles.”
Copies of the charter currently in circulation have annoyed a number of
political and religious factions. Bishop Paula, the committee’s
representative of the Coptic Church, said “members of the committee
voted that the preamble of the constitution state ‘Egypt is now writing a
constitution aimed at completing the building of a modern democratic
state with a civil system of government.’
“We were surprised to find that the words ‘with a civil system of
government’ had been changed into ‘with a civilian government’.”
Committee member Mohamed Ghoneim says “we all agreed during a
closed-door meeting that the preamble include the words ‘with a civil
system of government’ and were taken aback when the chairman of the
committee, Amr Moussa, read the words ‘civilian government’ at the vote
meeting.”
Moussa has issued a statement saying there is no difference between the
two phrases. Both, he says, serve to stress Egypt is not a religious
state.
Whatever the fine quibbling over semantics, Prime Minister Al-Beblawi
urges those who took to the streets on 30 June to turn out in their
millions to vote “yes” for the new constitution.
“It is no time for indifference,” says the veteran liberal economist. “There is no excuse to stay at home and not vote.”
Secular forces are mobilising behind a “yes” vote. The Tamarod campaign has already launched a “know your constitution” drive.
Grand Mufti Shawki Allam has announced the constitution is balanced and
has urged citizens to vote “yes”. Egyptian churches insist that they
are not offering advice on how their congregations should vote though
most anticipate massive support for the new charter.
Constitutional law experts differ over what would happen should the
charter fail to win a resounding yes vote. “If rejected Egypt will
continue to be governed by the 8 July declaration,” says professor of
constitutional law Mohamed Nour Farahat. “The president might then call
for a national dialogue in order to create a broader consensus over a
new constitution.”
Tahani Al-Gibali, a former judge on the Supreme Constitutional Court,
argues that if the constitution is rejected — “a big setback for the 30
June Revolution” — the 1971 constitution, as amended in March 2011 will
form an interim charter until parliamentary and presidential elections
are held.
A number of legal experts argue there are no obstacles to presidential
elections being held before parliamentary polls now that Article 230 has
been amended. Some even want the post-30 June roadmap to be curtailed
and parliamentary and presidential elections held on one day. According
to business tycoon Naguib Sawiris “this will save time and costs and
help the country move forward quickly.”
Meanwhile, a coalition of Islamists led by the Muslim Brotherhood is
asking the public to reject the constitution. The National Alliance in
Support of Legitimacy describes the charter as “absurd” and “illegal”.
Al-Ahram political analyst Emad Gad notes that “the Muslim Brotherhood
has resorted to increased violence ahead of the anticipated referendum.”
“It is now clear that the closer Egypt comes to ridding itself of
Morsi’s legacy the greater is the Brotherhood’s resort to violence.”
“After losing the battle on city streets the Brotherhood turned to its
student cadres, especially at Al-Azhar, to ratchet up confrontations,”
says Gad. “The Brotherhood has devoted years to infiltrating
universities and Al-Azhar proved particularly fertile ground for their
recruitment campaigns.”
Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim warned on Monday that “on the day of
the referendum security forces would not hesitate in using force to
disperse riots and confront violence.”
The Brotherhood was dealt a major blow to any hopes of a united
Islamist front after the Salafist Nour Party announced it would throw
itself behind a “yes” vote.
“The Nour’s support of the constitution makes it very difficult for the
Brotherhood to play its usual religious card or to claim the text
favours secularists and infidels,” says Gad.
Graffiti has recently appeared on Cairo’s streets urging citizens to reject “a constitution drafted for belly-dancers”.
Source Al-Ahram
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