Egypt Votes in Favor of Constitutional Amendments

Posted on Mar 20, 2011

AP / Ahmed Ali

An Egyptian official counts votes at a polling station in Cairo on Saturday.

In results released Sunday evening, 77 percent of Egyptian voters have endorsed amendments to their country’s constitution that will pave the way for parliamentary elections, which the military junta said will be held in June.

Supporters of the referendum came from Egypt’s two biggest, and already organized, political forces—the National Democratic Party and the Muslim Brotherhood. Opponents feared the quickness of the election would not favor opposition parties. —JCL

Al-Jazeera English:

Egyptians have voted overwhelmingly in favour of a package of constitutional amendments, according to official results released on Sunday evening.

Slightly more than 77 per cent of voters endorsed the amendments, the country’s supreme judicial committee has announced.

Roughly 18 million Egyptians went to the polls on Saturday, a 41 per cent turnout. It’s a better result than many past elections: The country’s fraud-plagued parliamentary ballot last year had less than 25 per cent turnout, and possibly as low as 10 per cent, according to some sources.

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