Egypt's new constitution has been approved by 98.1% of the voters in Egypt according to an announcement by the Supreme Electoral Committee. Ahram Online reports the official voting statistics. 38.6% of Egypt's 53.4 million voters voted in the Jan. 14-15 referendum, with 19,985,389 voters voting "Yes". Expatriates (who voted between Jan. 8 and 12) also approved the constitution by a 98.1% vote with 15.7% of the 64,000 registered voting. Wikipedia has a more detailed breakdown of the voting data. Nabil Salib, head of the Supreme Electoral Committee said: "Now that God has supported us in legalizing our constitution, we ask for his aid in achieving the remaining two stages of the road map: the presidential and parliamentary elections." (RT News). The outlawed Muslim Brotherhood refuses to recognize the legitimacy of the vote.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry issued a statement yesterday saying in part: "The draft Egyptian constitution passed a public referendum this week, but it's what comes next that will shape Egypt’s political, economic and social framework for generations." The New York Times yesterday reported on election results and U.S. reaction. This prior posting sets out the provisions in the new constitution relating to religion and state.
