Egypt voters overwhelmingly approve constitution, gov't official

Jerusalem Post ^ | 16/1/14

[Eleutheria5]

CAIRO - Egyptian voters in a referendum held this week have overwhelmingly approved a new constitution, an Interior Ministry official said on Wednesday, a result that could pave the way for army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to announce his candidacy for president.

"Turnout so far may exceed 55 percent and the approval of the constitution is perhaps more than 95 percent," Major General Abdel Fattah Othman, director of public relations for the ministry, told private satellite channel Al-Hayat.

He was citing preliminary results of the two-day vote that ended at 9 p.m. local time (1900 GMT) on Wednesday.

The result comes as no surprise. There was little or no trace of a campaign against the new constitution, which was supported by Egyptians who supported the army overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Mursi in July.

The Brotherhood called for a boycott...

[Eleutheria5]

As for what the new constitution says, cnn says this:

.....The latest proposal differs from the last constitution in several ways. Some say the draft constitution would mean improved human rights and freedom of expression. The new version explicitly states that women are equal to men and allows them to hold official and judicial posts, Al-Ahram said. The new articles would also give parliament the right to impeach the President in the event of a breach of the provisions of the constitution, Al-Ahram said. Other new articles would criminalize torture, discrimination and arbitrary forced displacement. Critics say the latest draft would give too much power to the military without any civilian oversight. For example, the draft gives tremendous leeway to the army to try civilians in military courts -- something many Egyptians have opposed for years. Morsy's opponents said he was a tyrant trying to impose conservative values....
.....

http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/15/world/africa/egypt-referendum/index.html

Conservative values? Like beheadings, crucifixions, church bombings? Non-stop rioting and turmoil? Love that CNN./s

[elpadre]

“..tyrant trying to impose conservative values..”

since when is Islamic style tyrannous government and Sharia law considered “conservative?” These same people say Nazi Germany was conservative with their highly centralized government strict laws in which all freedom were eliminated absolute nonsense!!

[Eleutheria5]

Sure. Obama supported Morsi and the MB because he’s so conservative. George Orwell and Eric Hoffer are both spinning in their graves.

[Hugin]

I’ll tip my hat to the new constitution.

[Yardstick]

Make up your mind, liberals. Are your islamofascist allies with their primitive Sharia law “conservatives” or does their anti-Americanism make them an emerging vanguard of progressivism?

[GeronL]

Is Obama deeply saddened?

[ogen hal]

Best of luck to the Egyptians as they try to toss the islamist losers out of their society. Were we so lucky.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Eleutheria5.

• With Muslim Brotherhood crushed, Egypt sets sights on Hamas
• Report: Hamas Planned Church Bombings on Christmas (in Egypt)
• Op-Ed: Egypt is Threatened by Islamic Terror
• Arab MKs: No Way Will we Live Under the PA (Palestinian Authority)

[Eleutheria5]

Depends. Are they in power or were they deposed? In power, they’re progressive. Deposed, they’re conservative right wing ideologues.

[mac_truck]

Lol..who’s next?

[left that other site]

Hopefully, we won’t get fooled again. :-)

[ScottinVA]

Nice to see Egypt appears to be righting itself. Hopefully, it’ll reestablish itself as the island of relative sanity in a sea of chaos.