On Saturday, December 15, Egyptians went to the polls to vote on the proposed Constitution. As previously cited throughout the blog, this vote has been looming with much controversy since the announcement by President Morsi on December 1st, days after the embattled/questionable Constituent Assembly rushed the draft into proposal in a nearly 20 hour meeting.
The voting on Saturday, December 15 was merely round 1 of the controversial and pivotal document. The vote had to be split because the vast majority of the Judiciary refused to oversee the voting on the referendum; rather than listen to the Judiciary's objections, President Morsi is employing the non-boycotting judges in a 2-day process. The second round of voting will take place this Saturday, December 22. This was one of several reasons of concern by outside groups.
The reports in newspapers and through Twitter this past Saturday were of long, slow-moving lines. There were reports of clashes outside of polling places, as well as fraud or discouraging behavior by officials. The preliminary reports of the vote were that the "YES", or "in favor" of the proposed constitution, received between 55-57% of the round 1 votes; this is not "official" and official reports will not be released until the completion of the 2nd round voting so as not to "influence" the round 2 voting.
The percentages don't tell the whole story. An often "retweeted" report came to us and I share the link of this report compiled from data by Ikhwan website; in their report, they have this informative graphic:
Note the lower right box observation--this is precisely why a "majority win" in the election of President Morsi, or potentially in affirming the Constitution is so hotly contested, debated, and protested. Though given the opportunity to vote, the turnout is so disproportionately low compared to the population; rather than speaking through the ballot box, they're instead taking to the streets. Such low turnout will only continue to lead to demonstrations despite the desire for democracy.
Headlines, tweets, and cries of "fraud" rang out on Sunday; counter accusations were made against the opposition saying there were just "poor losers" who "don't understand democracy".
Yet, the voices in the reported majority, like the Freedom and Justice Party (the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood) were still on the offensive, accusing churches of mobilizing their parishioners to vote "NO" on the referendum. This may be to counter the accusations and complaints filed against imams throughout the country who accusers say were directing their members of how to vote, despite government warnings. There was a story of an angry mob keeping an imam penned in his mosque in Alexandria--there were followup reports that such mobs were being investigated, but I have not yet read any reports of investigations into Christian preachers or Muslim imams directing votes.
The first round of voting has ended, but the protesting and demonstrations are still continuing. The National Salvation Front, a leading voice of the various opposition groups, is calling for a demonstration against all the voter fraud on Tuesday (tomorrow). Perhaps a more troubling sign is the lack of confidence international observers and would-be investors have of the process, Presidency, and ongoing turmoil. A troubling headline today read that German government officials were postponing debt relief citing fears of a new dictatorship in Egypt--the headline has been retracted in the past hour and replaced with "Germany insists on Morsy visit, despite democracy fears".
The Christians that we have been serving continue to pray for their country, and have also sought to pray for the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood to have wisdom and a desire for peace in the ongoing troubles and disagreements.
We'll see what happens this week while we await the 2nd round of voting on Saturday.
Pray for Egypt...
The voting on Saturday, December 15 was merely round 1 of the controversial and pivotal document. The vote had to be split because the vast majority of the Judiciary refused to oversee the voting on the referendum; rather than listen to the Judiciary's objections, President Morsi is employing the non-boycotting judges in a 2-day process. The second round of voting will take place this Saturday, December 22. This was one of several reasons of concern by outside groups.
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| voters dip their finger in ink, and place their fingerprint inside the appropriate circle to indicate their vote. (photo by Mahmoud Khaled, as appeared on Egypt Independent website) |
The percentages don't tell the whole story. An often "retweeted" report came to us and I share the link of this report compiled from data by Ikhwan website; in their report, they have this informative graphic:
Headlines, tweets, and cries of "fraud" rang out on Sunday; counter accusations were made against the opposition saying there were just "poor losers" who "don't understand democracy".
Yet, the voices in the reported majority, like the Freedom and Justice Party (the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood) were still on the offensive, accusing churches of mobilizing their parishioners to vote "NO" on the referendum. This may be to counter the accusations and complaints filed against imams throughout the country who accusers say were directing their members of how to vote, despite government warnings. There was a story of an angry mob keeping an imam penned in his mosque in Alexandria--there were followup reports that such mobs were being investigated, but I have not yet read any reports of investigations into Christian preachers or Muslim imams directing votes.
The first round of voting has ended, but the protesting and demonstrations are still continuing. The National Salvation Front, a leading voice of the various opposition groups, is calling for a demonstration against all the voter fraud on Tuesday (tomorrow). Perhaps a more troubling sign is the lack of confidence international observers and would-be investors have of the process, Presidency, and ongoing turmoil. A troubling headline today read that German government officials were postponing debt relief citing fears of a new dictatorship in Egypt--the headline has been retracted in the past hour and replaced with "Germany insists on Morsy visit, despite democracy fears".
The Christians that we have been serving continue to pray for their country, and have also sought to pray for the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood to have wisdom and a desire for peace in the ongoing troubles and disagreements.
We'll see what happens this week while we await the 2nd round of voting on Saturday.
Pray for Egypt...
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