(Cairo) – Egypt’s new constitution was approved by 98.1 percent, with turnout higher than in a 2012 vote under now ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, a senior government official said. The turnout and landslide “yes” vote proved that Morsi’s overthrow was a “popular revolution”.
The new charter replaces an Islamist-inspired one adopted in a December 2012 referendum under Morsi with about two-thirds of the vote and a 33 percent turnout. Authorities say it protects women’s rights and freedom of speech. Electoral committee head Nabil Salib said the turnout in the referendum, which was boycotted by Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood and its Islamist allies, “reached 38.6 percent.” Of them, 98.1 percent of voters approved the new constitution.
