Egypt Votes In Disputed Constitution Referendum

09:00 The disputed national charter has been the subject of scrutiny by rights organisations.

UN Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and in practice, expressed their “deep concern” in a Friday statement, regarding the “equality, non-discrimination and protection and promotion of women’s human rights” in the constitution.

Independent expert Kamala Chandrakirana, who heads the UN Working Group, added that they are concerned that almost no women were in the Constituent Assembly and so woman’s perspectives were “grossly under-represented.”

They called on the Egyptian government to ensure non-discrimination and equality in the text.

08:40 Egypt’s Foreign Ministry has informed its embassies and consulates that expat voting will be extended until Monday 8pm. The decision to lengthen the window to vote was made by the Supreme Electoral Commission – expats were originally given until Saturday 8pm.

08:20 Campaigning on both sides went on into the early hours of the morning, with people distributing leaflets in support of the constitution or outlining key issues with the national charter.

Revolutionary media collection Mosireen, set up last year to document the Egyptian revolution, have made dozens of videos outlining the problems with Egypt’s draft national charter, under the banner “Know their constitution.”

Speaking to experts, activists and victims of violence at the hands of the president’s supporters, the group have also used music and animation to create the series of short clips aimed at educating people about what they call the “Muslim Brotherhood” constitution.

Key topics covered include the military, torture, the role of religion in the constitution, labour rights, health, Al-Azhar, housing rights and parliament, among others.

08:15 Meanwhile, from the opposition side, former presidential candidate and leader of the National Salvation Front Hamdeen Sabbahi said via Twitter:

“Today we say no to the constitution of blood and divison, no to the constitution of tyranny, no to the constitution of price increases and denial of the rights of the poor.”

08:10 Political spats over who is to blame for violence between rival protest groups have erupted again following bloody scenes in Alexandria Friday, as Freedom and Justice Party second-in-command Essam El-Erian said on their official website Saturday morning:

“It’s totally absurd that the [opposition coaliton] National Salvation Front blame the elected President for his opponents’ violence in Alexandria Friday.”

The FJP instead attributed “paid thugs and rogue revolutionaries” for the attack which saw at least 19 injured, as rival groups clashed in the coastal city after controversial cleric Ahmed Mahalawy urged voters to say “yes” to the disputed draft constitution.

Ahram Online journalist Randa Ali in Alexandria, reported that Central Security Forces officers told her four bearded men had been arrested carrying knives.

08:05 More than 100,000 soldiers in amoured vehicles have been deployed to protect polling stations, government buildings and major cities, Reuters reported, ahead of the voting today. This follows violent scenes in Alexandria yesterday, when rival protest groups clashes and groups armed with swords and iron rods attacked an opposition forces protest.

08:00 Good morning, we kick off our live coverage of the first round of voting, as polling stations open across the country.

Egyptians return to the polling stations, Saturday, to vote on a controversial draft Constitution without full judicial supervision and following three weeks of bloody clashes between rival protests as well as strikes and mass rallies against President Mohamed Morsi after he pushed through the hastily written national charter.

Opposition forces, under the umbrella of the National Salvation Front, have slammed the document, saying it will only enforce a presidential dictatorship, threaten rights and freedoms and leave the door open to an ultraorthodox interpretation of Sharia Law.

The Constituent Assembly which drafted it, the front add, was unrepresentative of Egypt after several leftist , liberal and Church representatives staged a mass walk out.

Supporters of President Morsi have, however, held huge demonstrations in support of the constitution across the country, maintaining that the draft national charter is necessary for a “stability” and a successful transition to democracy.

Due to the lack of judges, after the general assembly of Judges Club announced they would boycott the polls, the referendum will take place over two stages: the first time this has happened since 1956.

The first stage, Saturday, will include 10 governorates: Cairo, Alexandria, Gharbiya, Sharqiya, Daqahliya, Assiut, Sohag, Aswan, and North and South Sinai.

The number of citizens eligible for voting in this stage is estimated at 26.6 million out of a total 51.3 million.

Four of these (Cairo and the three Nile-Delta governorates of Gharbiya, Sharqiya, and Daqahliya) voted overwhelmingly against Egypt’s current Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in Egypt’s run-off presidential election in June.

Alexandria, the upper-Egypt governorates of Assiut, Sohag, and Aswan, and the border governorates of North and South Sinai voted ‘yes’ for Morsi without a large margin from his rival Ahmed Shafiq.

The second stage, due to be held on 22 December, will include Egypt’s remaining 17 governorates, with a number of voters estimated at 24.7 million.

Ahram