Egypt Constitution Referendum: Three-day vote on changes to constitution begins
Updated 22:40, 23-Apr-2019
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Egyptians are voting on changes to the constitution that would keep the president in office longer - and give him more powers. Adel EL Mahrouky has more from Cairo.
Parliament has only approved the constitutional amendments last Tuesday. The next day, The elections committee announced the vote to begin Just two days later. With 61 Million Egyptians voting in almost 14 thousand ballot station, the organization for the vote has been extremely pressured.
MAHMOUD ELSHERIF SPOKESMAN, EGYPTIAN NATIONAL ELECTIONS AUTHORITY "Our biggest challenge has been time. Usually we would need 30 days, but that would have brought us to the middle of the holy month of Ramadan. The end of April and early May we have many religious and national holidays. It was a must to rush with the timeline. The elections authority is a permanent body now, and it works all year long. So we have a routine update of voters' lists, and judges lists too."
The vote began in Egyptian embassies all over the world on Friday, except in Syria, Yemen, Libya and Somalia. Nationally the ballots opened their doors on Saturday. More than 19 thousand judges and 120 thousand government employees are securing the vote.
MAHMOUD ELSHERIF SPOKESMAN, EGYPTIAN NATIONAL ELECTIONS AUTHORITY "The Authority were very keen to provide the utmost facilitations for people with disabilities. Ballots have been located on the ground floors of buildings. Most Buildings are easily accessible. And for the first time, we've printed voting cards in Braille so all visually impaired can independently vote."
70 NGOs have been permitted to monitor the referendum, among them five international organizations.
ADEL EL MAHROUKYCAIRO, EGYPT "Security is of the essence, 180 thousand Police and army personnel are protecting the ballots. They've created a 15 meters buffer zone around polling stations for additional safety measures. And the country's entire security apparatuses are on their highest alert. Adel EL Mahrouky, CGTN, CA."