Authorities on Wednesday scheduled three days of voting in a nationwide referendum starting Saturday on proposed changes to Egypt’s constitution that could see President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi remain in power until 2030.
Lasheen Ibrahim, chairman of the National ElectionAuthority, said the vote will take place Saturday through Monday for voters inthe country while Egyptian expatriates will vote Friday through Sunday, hesaid.
The vote was designated for three days apparently tomaximize the turnout.
The announcement at a televised news conference in Cairocame less than 24 hours after the parliament, packed with el-Sissi’ssupporters, overwhelmingly approved the proposed changes that also set tofurther enshrine the military’s role in politics.
Ibrahim called on voters to line up at ballot boxes acrossthe country to give their opinion about the constitutional amendments.
“Great people of Egypt, the nation is calling upon youto continue to build democracy and give your opinion on the constitutionalamendments,” said Ibrahim, calling the vote a “national duty.”Addressing the country’s youth, Ibrahim urged them to take part in the vote.”Don’t hold your opinion and shut your ears to the calls of boycott,”he said.
The changes are seen by critics as another step back towardauthoritarianism eight years after a pro-democracy uprising ended autocratHosni Mubarak’s three-decade rule, and nearly six years after el-Sissi led apopular military overthrow of the country’s first freely elected but divisiveIslamist president, Mohammed Morsi, after protests against his rule.
In general terms, the amendments only extend a president’sterm in office from four to six years and allow for a maximum of two terms.
But they also include a special article specific to el-Sissithat extends his current second four-year term to six years and allows him torun for another six-year term in 2024 — potentially extending his rule until2030.
El-Sissi was elected president in 2014, and re-elected lastyear after all potentially serious challengers were either jailed or pressuredto exit the race.
The amendments declare the military the “guardian and protector” of the Egyptian state, democracy and the constitution, while also granting military courts wider jurisdiction in trying civilians.