{"id":325192,"date":"2011-03-20T20:58:37","date_gmt":"2011-03-20T20:58:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/03\/20\/egyptians-approve-constitutional-changes-clearing-way-for-elections\/"},"modified":"2011-03-20T20:58:37","modified_gmt":"2011-03-20T20:58:37","slug":"egyptians-approve-constitutional-changes-clearing-way-for-elections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/20\/egyptians-approve-constitutional-changes-clearing-way-for-elections\/","title":{"rendered":"Egyptians approve constitutional changes, clearing way for elections"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><div readability=\"75.544716605\">  <!-- start feedback link --><\/p>\n<p><!-- \/feedback link -->       <!-- Tracking values --><\/p>\n<p><!-- google_ad_section_start --><!--startclickprintinclude-->   <!--endclickprintinclude--> <!--startclickprintexclude--> <!-- google_ad_section_end --><\/p>\n<div readability=\"60\"><!-- google_ad_section_start --><!-- CONTENT -->  <!-- REAP --><!--startclickprintexclude--><!-- PURGE: \/2011\/WORLD\/meast\/03\/20\/egypt.referendum\/story.egypt.votes.afp.gi.jpg --><!-- KEEP --><\/p>\n<div readability=\"7.5\">\n<div readability=\"10\"><!--===========CAPTION==========--><\/p>\n<p>A man votes at a polling station in Mansura, Egypt, on March 19, 2011.<\/p>\n<p><!--===========\/CAPTION=========--><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- \/PURGE: \/2011\/WORLD\/meast\/03\/20\/egypt.referendum\/story.egypt.votes.afp.gi.jpg --> <!--endclickprintexclude--><!-- \/REAP --><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p><b>STORY HIGHLIGHTS<\/b><\/p>\n<ul><!-- google_ad_section_start --><\/p>\n<li>The referendum sets the stage for June parliamentary elections <\/li>\n<li>The amendments limit presidential terms and emergency laws<\/li>\n<li>Opponents argue the changes are not enough<\/li>\n<p><!-- google_ad_section_end --><\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--endclickprintexclude--> <!--startclickprintinclude--> <\/p>\n<p><b>Cairo, Egypt (CNN)<\/b> &#8212; Egyptian voters overwhelmingly approved proposed constitutional amendments that pave the way for parliamentary elections in June, according to the head of the judicial committee overseeing the referendum.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We are proud of the Egyptian people for deciding their own destiny,&#8221; Judge Mahmoud Atiya said Sunday. &#8220;We assure the world that the March 19 referendum was fair and transparent at all stages.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Of the 18,366,764 ballots cast Saturday, there were 14,192,577 &#8220;yes&#8221; votes and 4,174,187 &#8220;no&#8221; votes, Atiya said.<\/p>\n<p>An estimated 45 million Egyptians were eligible to vote in what was widely viewed as the country&#8217;s first free election in decades, and the poll sets the stage for parliamentary and presidential elections later this year.<\/p>\n<p>The proposed amendments included limiting the president to two four-year terms, capping emergency laws to six months unless they are extended by public referendum, and placing elections under judicial oversight.<\/p>\n<p>Opponents said the amendments were rushed and fall short of the people&#8217;s demands. Many have demanded a new constitution and claimed an early referendum would give an unfair edge to the Muslim Brotherhood and remnants of Mubarak&#8217;s National Democratic Party &#8212; well entrenched and politically savvy groups that are better prepared to mobilize voters than newer factions still scrambling to get organized.<\/p>\n<p>But presidential candidate and head of the Arab League Amre Moussa, who urged a &#8220;no&#8221; vote, lauded the referendum as &#8220;the first official step towards the democracy called for in the January 25 movements.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;&#8216;Yes&#8217; or &#8216;no&#8217; is not the issue &#8212; that Egyptians are participating and voting today is what&#8217;s important,&#8221; he said Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>Atiya told CNN that the next step in the transition to a civilian government is for the military to move forward with parliamentary elections in June.<\/p>\n<p>If the measures had been voted down, the military would have gone back to the drawing board, Atiya said.<\/p>\n<p><!--endclickprintinclude--><!-- google_ad_section_end --><br \/>\n<!-- \/cnn_strybtmcntnt --><\/div>\n<p><!-- \/cnn_strycntnt --><!-- \/cnn_strycntntrgt --><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p>[Read more here|Read the original here|Read more from the original source|Continued here|Read more|More here|View original post here|More|See more here|See original here|Originally posted here|Here is the original post|See the original post|The rest is here|Read the rest here|See the rest here|Go here to read the rest|Go here to see the original|See the original post here|Read the original post|Original post|Read the original|Link|Excerpt from|View post|Visit link|Follow this link|Continue reading here|See the article here|Read this article<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> A man votes at a polling station in Mansura, Egypt, on March 19, 2011. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-325192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - 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