The people of Egypt have overwhelmingly approved a referendum on proposed constitutional amendments that could allow President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi to extend his rule until 2030.
National Election Authority head Lashin Ibrahim announced the results of the referendum on the constitutional amendments on Tuesday in Cairo. He revealed that 88.83 percent of the votes, which represents more than 23.4 million voters, voted in favor of the amendments, while 11.17 percent of the voters, representing more than 2.94 million voters, voted against the constitutional amendments, reported BBC.
The nationwide referendum took place beginning Saturday through Monday to maximize turnout. A total of 27,193,593 Egyptians cast their votes out of around 61 million eligible voters, representing 44.33 percent of eligible voters, according to data collected by the National Election Authority.
The referendum approval means Mr. Sisi’s second term has been extended from four to six years, and he will be allowed to stand for one more term. The constitutional amendments also give him more power over the judiciary and further enshrine the military’s role in politics.
Mr. Sisi thanked the people of Egypt and expressed appreciation for the wonderful vote-casting scene for voting.
“Wonderful scene done by Egyptians who took part in the referendum… will be written down in our nation’s historical record,” the President tweeted minutes after the voting results were announced.
Notably, Egypt’s House of Representatives has already passed the constitutional amendments after voting on them during a plenary session last week. 531 MPs approved the amendments and 22 others rejected them. One MP abstained from voting.
In 2013, Mr. Sisi led the military’s overthrow of Egypt’s first democratically elected president, Mohammed Morsi, after mass protests against his rule. He was first elected as Egypt’s president in 2014 and got re-elected in 2018.
