Unofficial results say Egypt has backed the controversial sharia-based constitution in the first round of voting, reports Al Arabiya. Voters got behind the document by a narrow margin of 61 percent amid opposition allegations of fraud.
Shortly after polls closed on Saturday night, the opposition group The National Salvation Front issued a statement voicing “deep concern… over the number of irregularities and violations in the holding of the referendum,” accusing the Muslim Brotherhood of fixing the vote.
The group urged voters to vote “no” on the new constitution but stopped short of calling for a boycott of the referendum, which they had previously promised if irregularities were seen in the voting process.
Among the allegations of fraud that The National Salvation Front flagged in a separate document included; a lack of judges to monitor the voting process and reports of members of the Muslim Brotherhood browbeating people into voting “yes” to the new constitution.
Hundreds of Islamist protests subsequently attacked headquarters of opposition party Al-Wafd in Cairo on Saturday night. They used gasoline bombs and birdshot, injuring two people before security forces arrived on the scene to disperse them.
"Just a few minutes ago, hundreds of Abu Ismail's supporters were trying to break the wall of the headquarters and were firing Molotov cocktails at the building." Al-Wafd Chief Editor Majdy Sarhan told Egypt's official news agency, MENA. He stressed that the assailants also damaged nearby parked cars and the façade of the building.
Over 50 percent of Egypt’s registered voters made their way to polls on Saturday to vote for a constitution that has opened rifts among the Egyptian population. The final decision of the new charter will be made next Saturday when the rest of Egypt votes.
The opposition has slammed the new document for being too rooted in Islamist doctrine and not representative of Egypt’s minorities. President Mohammed Morsi claims that the document is necessary to usher in a period of transition in Egyptian politics.
Over 120,000 troops and 6,000 tanks have been deployed around Egypt to protect polling stations and government buildings.
Tensions have been running high in the world's largest Arab nation where the new constitution has effectively split the country in two. Massive protests hit Egypt’s second largest city of Alexandria on Friday as opposition protesters scuffled with Muslim Brotherhood supporters at the city’s central Mosque.
Three weeks ago Morsi assumed new powers that allowed him to take decisions without the review of the judiciary. He was forced to relinquish these extra powerson December 9 to quell public anger after thousands of protesters gathered at Cairo’s presidential palace to decry the new measures.
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