Patrick Kingsley in Cairo theguardian.com, Wednesday 15 January 2014
Referendum marred by fatal clashes between Morsi supporters and security forces in Beni Suef hours after Cairo bomb blast
Link to video: Cairo shaken by bomb blast as Egyptians vote on new constitution
Pro-government Egyptians have ignored a string of fatal clashes to vote for the first time in the post-Morsi era, in a referendum opposed by secular activists and loyalists to the ousted president.
Most polling stations were calm, with up to 160,000 soldiers policing voting queues across the country. But at least 11 people were killed, including three in the southern city of Sohag and one in Beni Suef, the first large city south of Cairo, in clashes between security forces and supporters of Mohamed Morsi.
Other clashes were reported in the Cairo suburb of Helwan, while a bomb exploded outside a courthouse in the north-west of the city.
A police official blamed the explosion, which damaged the front of the court, but injured no one, on Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood. But local shopkeepers said they had not seen who planted it.
Others said the blast would not deter them from taking part in the vote. The referendum has been portrayed by the government and almost every local media outlet as not just a poll on the constitution's contents, but as both a ratification of Morsi's overthrow and a make-or-break moment in Egyptian history.
"Of course I'm still going [to vote], and for sure I will say yes," said Ahmed Rashid, a 26-year-old baker selling bread directly opposite the damaged courthouse. "After all we've been through in the last two years, what else do you expect me to say? We need stability, and the constitution will give us that."
General Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, the army chief who deposed Morsi in July, was cheered by crowds as he toured a polling station in north-eastern Cairo. Over the weekend, Sisi hinted that he would regard a strong turn-out and a high yes vote as a mandate to run for office.
In Kerdasa, a town just west of Cairo, where pro-Morsi extremists allegedly killed a dozen policemen in August, and where fatal clashes broke out at lunchtime, some voters happily responded to Sisi's call.
"Yes to Sisi," said Khadr Abdel Salem, 50, when asked how she had voted. "But this is for the constitution," Salem's friend reminded her. "Yes," Salem replied, "but it's the same thing."
A nearby newsstand highlighted the prism through which many Egyptians have been encouraged to view the referendum. "Today is judgment day," said the front page of Dostour, a pro-government broadsheet. "Today is the difference between freedom and slavery," said another paper, al-Shaab.
Amid such fervour, few have been willing, or have been given the space, to express an alternative view; few no voters could be found. The main party driving the no campaign, Strong Egypt, said 35 of its activists had been arrested while on the campaign trail, and opted on Monday to boycott the election entirely.
But, here and there, some people gave hints of dissent. The newspaper vendor in Kerdasa handed over a rare pro-Morsi broadsheet. "Just in case you thought everyone felt like that," he said with a wink, before admitting he was boycotting the poll.
Someone had stamped sectarian graffiti against the referendum on walls in Kerdasa. "Boycott the pope's constitution," read one slogan, appearing to incite hatred of Christians by claiming that the Coptic pope was behind the referendum.
Amid the focus on the symbolism of its enactment, the contents of the constitution have been largely ignored. Supporters praise it for largely removing pro-Islamist sections from Morsi's version and for potentially paving the way to better education, healthcare and women's rights.
Opponents, however, say it is less than the revolutionary document they expected after the removal of two presidents. In particular, they are critical of clauses that variously allow for civilians to be tried in certain contexts in army courts, curb workers' rights, and limit religious freedoms to members of the three Abrahamic religions.
The referendum will be monitored by hundreds of local observers and 83 overseas delegates from Democracy International (DI), paid for by the US government. "But just by being here, we're not making a statement that the process is legitimate or illegitimate," DI's head of mission, Dan Murphy, said.
Another US-based group, the Carter Centre, will send only a small delegation after being deeply concerned by the "narrowed political space surrounding the upcoming referendum".
Egyptians defy violence to vote on constitution | World news | theguardian.com
