Posts Tagged ‘Morsi’
Morsi amends Egypt constitution to shrink voters turnout? Are you voting NO?
Posted by: adonis49 on: December 18, 2012
Morsi amends Egypt constitution to shrink voters turnout? Are you voting NO?
An amendment to Egypt’s referendum laws on Monday is banning voters from casting their ballots except in constituencies where they are registered confirmed President Mohammed Morsi. And Morsi is going ahead with the controversial referendum.
Why this amendment?
Mohannad Sabry posted from Cairo on Dec 11. 2012:
The decision to amend Egypt’s referendum law to prohibit absentee balloting seems designed to ensure passage of the controversial draft constitution supported by President Mohammed Morsi
The abrupt amendment of the referendum laws that were drawn by the interim military government in 2011 meant that the number of citizens voting on Egypt’s postrevolution constitution — the first to be written since the 1971 constitution that consolidated Hosni Mubarak’s 30 years of dictatorship — will significantly shrink.
Only 4 days before voters cast their ballots, questions were raised about the intent behind the amendments, as millions of Egyptians are forced to leave their hometowns in search of jobs and better living standards.
The southern coast of the Sinai Peninsula is Egypt’s main example of those who will be excluded from the referendum by the new law.
Some 300,000 workers, who come from every governorate across the country, are employed by hundreds of hotels, resorts and other tourist facilities in the towns of Sharm El-Sheikh, Taba, Dahab and Newiba.
Shortly before the 2012 presidential elections that brought Morsi to power, Sinai’s tourism sector workers threatened to strike if they weren’t allowed to cast absentee ballots in polling stations close to their work places.
Judge Ahmed Sallam, official spokesman of the Ministry of Justice, said that “such measurements were applied to guarantee fairness and transparency throughout the December 15 referendum.”
Monday’s amendment was an addition to the significant legal, administrative and executive failure in planning the constitutional referendum.
The election and referendum laws applied in the March 2011 referendum, November 2011 parliament elections and the June 2012 presidential elections failed to set a minimum voters turnout that if not met the electoral process becomes invalid.
Under such laws, the results of an election process are accepted even if the turnout is only one million voters, a semi-blind process that only sees numerical figures but fails to reflect national will.
President Morsi was elected with about 12.3 million votes in a country of around 90 million citizens and more than 50 million registered voters.
Abdelsattar El-Balshi, a prominent lawyer who filed a lawsuit appealing the candidacy of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Khairat El-Shater before the June 2012 presidential elections, told Al-Monitor:
“It is not a matter of 51% wins, Morsi and his government apparently don’t understand that Egyptians are seeking a constitution that will satisfy the hopes of decades to come. The minimum turnout should match what is applied in parliament when voting on laws.
“If passing or amending a law requires the votes of two thirds of parliament then you should as well grant that to the public who originally elected members of the legislative authority,” El-Balshi continued.
Meanwhile, the judiciary’s capability to administrate a nationwide referendum remains uncertain amid spreading boycott calls by judges and prosecutors who viewed Morsi’s Nov. 22 decree that granted him immunity as an unprecedented violation on the judiciary.
Morsi’s decision on Dec. 9 to annul his controversial decree after massive opposition protests and bloody clashes across the country failed to absorb the judiciary’s anger.
Judge Ahmed El-Zend, head of the independent Judges Club, announced in a news conference Tuesday morning: “90% of Egypt’s judges refuse to take part in administrating the constitutional referendum.”
Judge Zakaria Abdelaziz, former head of the Judges Club, told the local Al-Jazeera Live Egypt Tuesday:
“If the number of judges participating does not reach the 11,000 needed to cover the nationwide polling stations, then the referendum could be held in two phases or polling stations could be combined.”
Abdelaziz denied El-Zend’s claims and called on judges to refrain from boycotting.
No official statements regarding the number of participating judges were made by either the Ministry of Justice or the Elections Committee overseeing the referendum.
On Tuesday, tens of thousands demonstrated in Cairo to either support President Morsi’s insistence on holding the constitutional referendum on Saturday Dec. 15 or to condemn him for turning a blind eye on demands of millions of opposition members across the country.
The opposition’s front included dozens of leftist, liberal and democratic parties that did not endorse Morsi in the first round of elections in June 2012.
In the second round, he managed to garner 7 million of the 17 million votes that originally went to his competitors.
Tarek Hosni, a political analyst, told Al-Monitor:
“All those votes that didn’t go directly to Morsi in the first round of presidential elections will be against the constitution, except for an estimated 1 million Salafists who voted for Abdelmonem Abolfotoh but returned and continue to support Morsi. Those are all indicators that national consensus was never reached over this constitution and that Morsi is turning a blind eye on the opposition, he is struggling for 51% of the voters to pass the constitution, regardless what they represent or which sect of the community they come from.”
Hosni believes that rushing to end a political crisis he instigated, Morsi left no time for dialogue, consensus, or even preparation of laws and practical measures to guarantee a fair referendum that reflects the public’s will.
Hosni said: “And if this crippled document they call constitution passes, it will barely represent less than a quarter of Egypt”” end of article
On another note:
Khaled Abdullah published on De. 15:
Soldiers stand guard as people wait outside a polling center to vote in referendum on tge new constitution of Egypt in Cairo
The National Salvation Front – Egypt’s main opposition coalition – said on Saturday that the number and intensity of violations in the constitutional referendum suggest that there is an intention to rig the vote.
Reports produced by the Front’s operation room suggested that the violations were occurring all over the country.
The opposition group accused the Muslim Brotherhood of trying to “pass the Brotherhood constitution,” calling on all authorities to bear full responsibility to guarantee the transparency of the vote.
It called on the people to vote “no” in the referendum on the controversial charter and prevent rigging attempts.
Note 2: Mohannad Sabry is an Egyptian journalist based in Cairo. He has written for McClatchy Newspapers and The Washington Times, served as managing editor of Global Post’s reporting fellowship “Covering the Revolution” in Cairo as well as a contributor to its special reports “Tahrir Square” and “Egypt: the military, the people.”
Sabry was nominated to the 2011 Livingston Award for International Reporting. Born in Saudi Arabia and raised around the world, Sabry returned to Cairo in 2001 and has been covering Egypt since 2005. Follow him on Twitter: @mmsabry.
Million of Egyptians packing Tahrir Square, and scanding “Morsi, Rescind or get off the pot” (Taraja3 aw Erhal)
Posted by: adonis49 on: December 2, 2012
Million of Egyptians packing Tahrir Square, and scannding “Morsi, Rescind or get off the pot” (Taraja3 aw Erhal)
The current reigning Egypt Moslem Brotherhood cultist movement has lost credibility: Every single promise by President Muhammad Morsi or the MB party were not kept, and this within the brief period of acceding to power, to the executive and the legislative, with the total backing of the US administration.
For more than a week now, million of Egyptians have reconquered Tahrir Square in a show of popular force, to deny the MB a totalitarian and theocratic regime…
A week ago, Morsi issued a decree amassing all the powers in his hands: the executive, the legislative and the judicial. He claimed that this decision is temporary, until the former Mubarak regime power centers are exposed and brought back to trial…
Morsi claimed that this decree is to permit the MB predominant legislative body to finish ironing out a Constitution to their liking,,, and for him to sign it and prepare a referendum on the New Constitution within 15 days.
Within a day and a night, the MB assembly voted “unanimously” on the 238 clauses in the Constitution, as the opposition forces refused to be part in that charade…
The Constitution is to keep the clause that Islam Shari3a is the major source for laws… and extending wide rights for censuring freedom of expressions…
In his latest speech, Morsi declared that he has suffered under the former Mubarak regime, and there is no going back to a totalitarian and dictatorial regime…
But nothing will do: The actions of Morsi speak louder than his intentions and promises. The Second Revolution is unfolding, in full bloom and with renewed vigor.
All the opposition movements have vowed that Morsi has to rescind the dictatorial decrees and rework a negotiated Constitution with all the movements that were denied participation in its formulation…
The secular and democratic forces want a Constitution that insure partition of power, stable transition to power, continuation of all the institutions regardless of who is voted in power, guaranteeing freedom of opinions and gathering, and equal rights to women…
Morsi was an non-entity compared to other MB leaders, and Robert Fisk claimed that he didn’t win the election: The US wanted a change of the Mubarak regime direct representatives, and a full week for counting the ballot votes was meant to alter the result in the counting process.
Morsi promised a prime minister from the other opposition parties, and reneged and brought in a MB, another non-entity…
Morsi endorsed all the wishes of the military to retain their previous entitlements and economic bases…
The MB have been in a frenzy to quickly consolidate their power, taking advantage of the brokered Gaza cease fire, the full backing of the US administration, the Syrian uprising hoarding the Middle-East news media, and this impression that Egypt is back on the saddle as a pivotal regional power, thanks to the MB…
Most likely, Morsi is to submit his resignation next Tuesday: He has lost the credibility that was bestowed on him.
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