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Ahmed Abd El Latef / AP
Egyptian women cut their hair to protest against the Islamist-oriented constitution during a demonstration in Tahrir Square, Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, Dec. 25, 2012.
Morsi's leftist, liberal, secularist and Christian opponents had taken to the streets to block what they argued was a move to ram through a charter that would dangerously mix politics and religion.
The president argues that the new constitution offers sufficient protection for minorities, and adopting it quickly is necessary to end two years of turmoil and political uncertainty that has wrecked the economy.
Hours before the vote result was announced, the authorities imposed a new ban on travelling in or out of the country with more than $10,000 in foreign currency, a move apparently intended to halt capital flight.
Some Egyptians have begun withdrawing their savings from banks in fear of tougher restrictions.
The "yes" vote paves the way for a parliamentary election in about two months, setting the stage for yet another electoral battle between surging Islamists and their fractious liberal and leftist opponents.
The final result, announced by the election commission, matched — to the last decimal place — an earlier unofficial tally announced by Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood.
The constitution was drawn up by a body largely made up of Morsi's Islamist allies. The results announcement was a disappointment for the opposition which had put pressure on the authorities to recount the result to reflect what they have described as major vote violations.
"We have seriously investigated all the complaints," judge Samir Abu el-Matti of the Supreme Election Committee told a news conference. The final official turnout was 32.9 percent.
Nasser Nasser / AP file
An Egyptian election worker shows his colleagues an invalid ballot while counting ballots at the end of the second round of a referendum on a disputed constitution in this Saturday, Dec. 22, 2012 file photo.
Cairo, gripped by often violent protests in the run-up to the vote, appeared calm after the announcement and opposition groups have announced no plans for demonstrations to mark the result.
"The results was so odd and no change in the percentage points shows that nothing was done to take our complaints into account," Khaled Dawood, an opposition spokesman, said.
The referendum, held on December 15 and on December 22, has sown deep divisions in the Arab world's most populous nation but Morsi says enacting the new constitution quickly will bring stability and a chance to focus on fixing the economy.
A growing sense of crisis has gripped Egypt's polarized society for weeks. Standard and Poor's cut Egypt's long-term credit rating on Monday.
Hours ahead of the results announcement, Prime Minister Hisham Kandil told the nation of 83 million the government was committed to taking steps to heal the economy.
"The main goals that the government is working towards now is plugging the budget deficit, and working on increasing growth to boost employment rates, curb inflation, and increase the competitiveness of Egyptian exports," he said.
Crisis mode
The central bank said on Monday it would take steps to "safeguard" bank deposits, without giving any details. Rumors are rife of what sort of measures are planned.
"I have been hearing that the central bank is going to take over all our bank deposits to pay wages for government employees given the current deteriorating economic situation," said Ayman Osama, father of two young children.
He said he had taken out the equivalent of about $16,000 from his account this week and planned to withdraw more, adding that he had also told his wife to buy more gold jewellery.
"I am not going to put any more money in the bank and neither will many of the people I know," he said.
The referendum is the Islamists' third electoral victory since the fall of Mubarak, following parliamentary and presidential elections, representing a decisive shift in a country at the heart of the Arab world, where Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood was suppressed for generations by military rulers.
However, secularist and liberal opposition members hope they can organize better in time for the next parliamentary vote.
The opposition says the constitution fails to guarantee personal freedoms and rights for women and minorities. The government says the criticism is misplaced.
Hossam El-Din Ali, a 35-year-old newspaper vendor in central Cairo, said he agreed the new constitution would help bring some political stability but like many others he feared the possible economic austerity measures lying ahead.
"People don't want higher prices. People are upset about this," he said. "There is recession, things are not moving. But I am wishing for the best, God willing."
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Sure it did... now, take a look at this magnificent bridge I have for sale over here.... pay no attention to the miles of sand underneath...
This is where Egypt really starts circling the drain.
This passed the same way that Morsi won the election, with the Muslim Brotherhood and their allies intimidating voter and stuffing ballot boxes. When the election is overseen almost entirely by partisan judges who themselves are members of the MB, how could anyone expect the outcome to be any different or even have a whiff of legitimacy. This now gives the MB complete control over Egypt. They and their allies will never cede control through peaceful means. The only way the MB will ever relinquish control of Egypt at this point is if they are forced to by violent overthrow. Now the MB is focusing their efforts on getting control in Syria. Most of the so-called rebels fighting in Syria are being backed by the MB. Once they gain control of Syria they will move on to Jordan next. They will not be satisfied until they have gained control of as many countries as possible in the Middle East. This does not bode well for the stability of the region. Once the MB has sufficiently expanded their control, you will see Egypt abrogate their peace treaty with Israel. I think that a new Middle East war between Israel and its neighbors is now a matter of when, not if it will happen. We have the gullibility of the Obama administration and other western powers to thank for this dramatic shift in the Middle East. They were naive enough to buy into the MB's rhetoric that they were really moderates and not the extremists they had been made out to be. Their actions in Egypt are showing their true colors and the extreme nature of their views and agenda will become increasingly apparent as they go about their business of re-writing the laws in Egypt to ensure that their brand of Islam and Sharia Law becomes the only acceptable way to live without being persecuted. This is definitely the beginning of a new dark ages for the Middle East. We will be paying for the naive foreign policy decisions of the Obama administration for many years, if not decades to come.
Be ready for war, this is not going to end well. How many Jews will die before Obama steps in? Is Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood going to out kill Syria? Its time to stop Egypt's 20 billion in aid.
You get what you voted for.
Watch for the "Egyptian Winter/Spring/Summer/Fall Exodus".
and we are arming Egypt to the teeth, with the best equipment in the world, paid for by American taxpayers; the Coptic's and Jews in and around Egypt are now a endangered species.
Stop the ridiculous scaremongering! It's call democracy, and the people choose. Live with it because they will. And if they were so antithetical to Coptics they would be none left in Egypt.
Now one thing I would say for their constitution is it explicitly forbids torture. In the light of what we have done since 9/11, for example we subcontracting out torture to Syria and Egypt, may be we should also consider amending our own constitution to forbid torture.
Bob- The U.S., no matter what most of us would like to think, ARE NOT THE WORLD POLICE.
See. They are a democracy and it looks like he got a healthy majority of the vote. Wish they would break it down as to how many single moms, woman in general, srudents,etc so that on the next election the other party would know who to target.
It just goes to show that the neo-conservatives were wrong in their belief that it is in the best interest of America that democracy and capitalism should be spread all over the world. Democracy only delivers what the majority of voters want. And if the majority wants an Islamist government, that is what they are going to get, as they did in Egypt. The neo-cons seem to have forgotten that Hitler was democratically elected. Their belief that a world of democratic nations reduces the likelihood of war is equally stupid. Democracies are just as capable of going to war with each other as any other type of government is. It all depends on what the people want.
Don't forget the old saw that in a democracy(or more technically accurate, a republic) the people always get the kind of government they deserve. This is why a democratic society will always fizzle out once the people figure out that they can elect representatives who will enact government handouts to almost everyone. Once that happens, it's all downhill for that society.
Mickey, why are you laying this at the feet of "neo-cons" when it was the present administration that encouraged this whole debacle? Is the Obama Administration full of neo-cons? Ask Hillary and Barack why they figured that an Islamic theocracy (Muslim Brotherhood) was better than a secular authoritarian (Mubarak). Anyone with half a brain saw this end result coming from half a year back (at least). And before someone says that we couldn't have stopped it, that is simply untrue. We could have supported Mubarak and the secular military in Egypt, preventing the MB from ascending to power. There was good reason why they were suppressed for the last 40 years; they are religious, totalitarian zealots! That's whay Morsy did to get his way; He took for himself ALL POWER in order to ram through his Constitution enshrining Islamic law.
Jimmy Carter threw the secular modernist Shah of Iran (an American ally) under the bus, paving the way for the Ayatollah Khomenei over 30 years ago and theocratic Iran ever since. A HUGE blunder.
Barack Obama has repeated the trick, withdrawomg all support for secular Mubarak and now we get the theocratic Muslim Brotherhood in his place, complete with Islamic Sharia Law now enshrined in Egypt's new Constitution. Another HUGE blunder.
Fools!!
How is the theocratic MB any different than the theocratic right wing in the US?
And the idea that the US should have continued supporting Mubarak is beyond absurd.
Because they are in full control of that country, for one, and just re-wrote the Constitution there to conform to Islamic Shariah Law. Get back to me when the Moral Majority takes power in the U.S. and rewrites our Constitution to conform to Biblical Law and requires that all disputes of law shall be brought before Liberty University for the Christian "scholars" there to decide. Until then, stfu.
Yet you are unable to marshall a single supporting argument for your position. Pretty weak.
Better yet, tell me why/how Mubarak was worse than the Muslim Brotherhood? (something tells me I'll be waiting a long time for this answer....)
I was speaking to intent.
It's true the theocratic right in the US lost their attempt to gain control and desire to institute their religiously based oppressiveness via constitutional changes, but hey, it was not for lack of trying. The difference here of course being that a greater proportion of the American public already has a history of secular and liberal sentiments and so had an easier time beating back the ultraconservative onslaught.
But I see is little difference between the between the right wing Islamic extremist and the Christian conservative extremists, both of whom would have our laws and mores dictated by their religious texts. They share the same impulse for absolute control.
Sorry for the delay, I was involved in the holiday with family.
We have not seen how rule by the MB will play out over time...the MB of today is not what it has been historically insofar as the radical elements and calls for Sharia law have been somewhat tempered by those in the membership who recognize that recent international legitimacy depends on a more moderated approach.
Agree or disagree with the Radical Islamist aims of some members of the party, the organization is nowhere near the corrupt and oppressive political regime that was headed bv Mubarak and his state police apparatus. I guess you find the stability factor for US interests in the region more important than the overthrow of a despot who imprisoned without trial some 30,000 political opponents and amassed an estimated personal family fortune of $40 billion. Yeah, that's exactly the sort of guy the US should support and consort with compared to those who overthrew him.
Do I support the MB? No. Do I think they are worse than Mubarak regime? No.
Do I think think the US should have attempted to preserve Mubarak's regime because it would serve US interests? No.
Do I think you have mastered civil discourse? I'll leave that to you to answer.
Adam44,
"Mickey, why are you laying this at the feet of "neo-cons" when it was the present administration that encouraged this whole debacle?"
In case you hadn't noticed, it was the neo-con ideology I was criticizing; not any particular thing they have done. So I think your response to my post pointing out specific actions by others is inappropriate. You've missed the point.
What constitutional changes did the Moral Majority press for? Be specific. With supporting evidence. I doubt that you can come up with anything. Yes they wanted Creationism to be taught in the public schools, and prayer to be allowed, etc., but nothing on the scale of what the Muslim Brotherhood has in store for Egypt, and nothing remotely close to the degree of Theocracy implemented in Iran.
Egypt has had secular leadership since Nasser overthrew the monarchy in 1952, sixty years ago. And the monarchies before that were not religiously suffused either.
Same story in Turkey which had even more avowedly secular rule since a junior officer named Mustafa Gemal Ataturk rose to power and abolished the Ottoman Caliphate in 1924. He established the modern state of Turkey and created a strict separation between Mosque and State that lasted over 70 years until the Islamists under Erdogan gained power in 2002. The Islamists there are slowly but surely injecting Islam back into every aspect of Turkish life. But even they are so dangerous as the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.
Well, so you say. Show me the program for Christian fundamentalist rule. The Muslim Brotherhood explicitly stated that they envisioned a divine Egypt obedient to Islamic shariah law in every respect. They are now delivering on that "promise." Show me the equivalent fundamentalist Christian program. Not just your own opaque assertations.
Second half of my reply next.
Me too. This is not among the top ten things I've been looking forward to discussing. For me, religious Nazis have just taken over Egypt with my own governments' tacit and occasionally active support (as when warning the Egyptian military to not intervene). Therefore it is hard for me not to come across as less than angry about it.
You just saw how morsy grabbed absolute power in order to ram through the shariah compliant constitution he wanted. What more evidence do you need? THAT was the true face of the "new" Muslim Brotherhood.
If that power grab was "tempered" in your eyes, then you should understand why I got angry with your earlier post. You seem to be in denial about what is happening in Egypt. You and a lot of the people running our country who are otherwise intelligent, thoughtful people, but somehow have an egregious blind spot when it comes to what happens when Islam is injected into politics (and governance in particular). Iran is what happens.
Well, corruption comes with power i suppose, so it's not surprising that they are now seen as less corrupt. But why do you think that they will be less corrupt or oppressive than the regime headed by Mubarak once they have established their grip on power? What do you base that on? My guess is that they will be many times more ruthless and oppressive than Mubarak ever was, and I already have some evidence in the form of that naked power play that turned President Morsy into unconstrained Dictator Morsy so that he didn't have to have any judges questioning or blocking his goals.
If that doesn't clue you into the character of the new regime than apparently you just don't want to open your eyes to it.
First of all, link to this $ 40 BILLION dollar family fortune assertion you make. Back it up. Otherwise it's just # 40 Billion dollar bull@!$%#.
Secondly, yes he imprisoned Muslim Brotherhood militants who were constantly trying to overthrow his government. Looks like he didn't do enough because they finally succeeded with our governments' help. And there were trials. Many, many trials, just as we have trials in our country.
Was there corruption? Of course. ALL governments in the world have corruption. Governments in the middle-east have more corruption than most. Mubarak was certainly no angel, but neither was he the devil some revionists are making him out to be. He was an authoritarian, secular, modernizing force in Egypt, just as the Shah was in Iran decades before.
The ones who were most oppressed under both Mubarak and the Shah were Islamic fundamentalist nutbags who yearned to overthrow secular rule and establish rule by Allah in the form of shariah law. There was good reason to oppress them as it becomes a matter of oppressing or being overthrown. Of course they defended themselves, wouldn't you?
So, in a nutshell, you exaggerate how bad Mubarak and the previous regime were. At the same time you downplay how dangerous the Muslim Brotherhood might be or become. And as a result you get what our present administration (and Jimmy Carter's before) have accomplished, which is to go around the middle east replacing bad with worse. They did the same thing in Libya and were much more explicit about it, bombing campaign and all. Gadhafi was no angel either, but the Islamists who are fighting to replace him are worse, and that country has now endured over a year of absolute chaos and violence that led even to our ambassador's death there.
What a clusterfvck that intervention acheived. Egypt is even worse because it is a much more critical country in the region, and now is run by barely closeted religious fanatics (but apparently just closeted enough to dupe some naive westerners).
Replacing bad with worse is not good foreign policy.
Give them time, but you've already witnessed a key event and apparently hardly gave it a second look (Morsy's dictatorial power grab).
Actually, Mubarak was pushed out by our administration for the exact reason that you are condemning. Our foolish leaders in Washington D.C. and the State Department thought that it would serve our interests more to get rid of Mubarak and bring true Democracy and Freedom to Egypt. That is the truth of it. It was no less Quixotic and foolish than what George W. Bush did in Iraq to get rid of Saddam Hussein (though much more brutal and ruthless than Mubarak). President Obama's idealistic notions for Egypt were exactly the same as G.W. Bush's were for Iraq, i.e. to get rid of a dictator and bring Democracy and Freedom to that country. Exactly the same! If you hated it when Bush did it then you should hate it just as much when Obama did it. Of course our intervention was much more overt and "forced" in the case of Iraq, but it had to be because Saddam Hussein was 10 times the brutal dictator that Mubarak was, and there was no way he was going anywhere without military force being used.
Anyway, if you liked GW Bush's Middle East policy then you should love Barack Obama's because it's the exact same policy, albeit more finessed in the latter case. Similarly, if you like how Obama is proceeding in the Mideast, then you should've approved of what GW Bush did. Same policy; Bring Democracy and Freedom to the Middle East. Sometimes by force and sometimes behind the scenes. But make no mistake, when push came to shove, Barack Obama marshalled our military to BOMB LIBYA until the regime could no longer hold onto power. He and our nato allies removed Gadhafi BY FORCE. And did that improve anything? Nope, it just made things worse. Which is why I say that the policy in the end amounts to little more than simply replacing bad with worse in the region.
Yes, I think so, even though in this case it's hard for me because as I said at the outset I view our governments role in Egypt as the equivalent of condoning and working diligently behind the scenes (for the most part) to enable theocratic thugs to power in Egypt. And in many posts I see the same befuddled, wishful thinking at work. Of course they don't think, or didn't think, that the Muslim Brotherhood was all that dangerous. I think that they're naively foolish about that. We'll see i suppose, though we've already seen plenty for those who are paying attention with eyes open. It will get worse.
Of course our intrepid leaders in Washington D.C. who helped bring all this about will now double down on their blunder and pour even more BILLIONS of American tax dollars into that country to prop up and support Morsy and the basket-case Egyptian economy. The worse it gets there the more we will be on the hook for it. Why? Because we helped create it. It makes me sick thinking about it which is why I am occasionally hostile when I see Pollyanish posts about how the MB isn't so bad and what a blood-sucking vampire Mubarak was. I call BUNK on both of those notions.
I wonder how much sharia law has been written into this constitution. I think a burqa factory in Egypt might be a pretty good investment these days.
You joke but Burqas were almost never seen in Egypt 40-50 years ago. Now they are commonplace, even in Cairo.
Is Egypt moving forward or moving backwards now? The answer is pretty clear. Drastically Backward, in large part to Hillary and Barack.
Another WIN for the muslim terrorists. Welcome to the new land of sharia law and millions of women, Christians, gays reduced to second class citizenship. Pathetic!!!
Kind of like the Republican party wants to do women and gays here.
More glib b.s. from culheath.
More civil discourse from Adam44. You seem angry.
Definitely angry about what my government helped bring about in Libya and Egypt. Sometimes that spills over onto posters who exhibit the same wong-headed thinking about the Middle East. Sorry.
This has all the makings of a farce.There is good evidence that the other elections were rigged.And even if they weren`t the Brotherhood doesn`t have a mandate to suspend civil liberties and oppress minorties.i. women Chrstians .gays and many other.Time for the military to take over.One partyr the Bro can`t have i..e the takeover of the whole country.and a seizing of power in the most mafia,police dictatorship way.People of Egypt rise up and throw the beasts of the Brotherhood out on their fannies, !If not it`s your funeral.!
If you believe that Ahmadinejad got the majority of the votes in Iran, and was freely re-elected, then you can believe this fraud out of Egypt too.
Not our business..let them do what they want.
As for our funds going there now..better be less..with the Muslim brotherhood in control let them support the country.
We (USA) pay them $billions a year for only one reason..and thats to make sure a country to their north has no problems from "ANY" country to their south..think all know what country to the north of Egypt we pay for!
sharia law, that's male dominated society instead of female dominated societies like the west. Besides, it is also the majority of the votes. I have zero problem with that, do you? lol
spreading democracy around the world... next stop, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE.... let's send the troops over there to get the regime change done! roflol!
There's a greater chance that elections in Chicago are fair and honest than this referendum in Egypt. Islamic extremists are waging wars of aggression all around the globe. Their goal is world domination and to eliminate all religions other than their perverted version of Islam. They will also use the mechanism of democracy to take power when theyare given the opportunity. It's the old "one man, one vote, one time" scheme. Once Moslem extremists take over they will never step down peacefully.
Egyptian women better start getting used to the idea of being relegated to "ghosts" under the Muslim Brotherhood's new constitution, just like in every other Islamic Republic paradise on earth. That's only the beginning of the atrocities to occur. God help the Coptics!
Now that the islamists have control in Egypt, Allah will kick Jehovah's butt.
Did anyone really expect a different result. The Brotherhood decided what they wanted and made sure the vote came out to that result.
So the MB has won. And yet there will be almost no one to take the Western leaders and media to account for their stupidity two years ago. All those rosy predictions about the Arab Spring. The Israelis have yet again been proven right and the US and European media dead wrong. How is it possible that such a glaring example of incompetence and ignorance cannot be exposed? The Israeli media should rub it in.
With the American economy needing to cut back on spending, foreign aid to Egypt should be one of the first areas that should be re-accessed. It's past time for the tax payers in the U.S. to re-evaluate all foreign aid spending, who it is provided to and the cost to benefit ratio. The time has arrived to keep America's money in America and invest it in American jobs and resources. It's definitely past time for the wealthy Arab states to start funding their own.
Allahu akhbar!!!
The new King of the United States of America, Oboma, has been leading his lambs to the slaughter house - he will let the USA go over the financial cliff in the coming months, only to blame the Republican's, in the mid-term elections, for our demise! The blame goes all-around, for our elected officials, to be blinded by not reading the history of Germany! For POTUS, the plan is for us, the USA, to become a Socialist Society; Yes, the coming of ignorance of our Constitution, not placing blame on anything for our elected officials - and blaming those who have faithfully served, and died, and ignorance of the Law of the Land, yes, Federal Laws! Next to come, will the relieving of our Right to own and bear arms, and the UN will be his conduit! Wake up - appointment of the Vice-President, to review that of their own evil dead's, What-A-Crock! We deserve to be slaughtered! {:-(}
15% of the total registered voters present and absent from 55 million voters is not suitable to impose Dogmatic Constitution does not guarantee individual freedom does not guarantee the full right to litigate for every citizen
This government is not going to last. It's a shame they didn't go all the way on this opportunity, but instead they got mired in their heritage. It happens over here all the time.
You are witnessing the birth of a new breed of dictatorship in which the ruler’s extreme power is constitutionally granted. Congratulation to the new democratic Egypt."
That new constitution stinks. I could imagine if we had one like that here in the USA.
Article 2 would make the Southern Baptists the Official religion of the USA, and make our laws to be founded on biblical law. Then Article 4 would have the Southern Baptists Church, as an independent Christian institution, to be consulted in matters of Christian Law, be funded by the state, and the top guy cannot be dismissed.
Can I get a WTF? Were they all laughing when they wrote this joke? Did they really think people would take them seriously and adopt this peace of crap?
If the Egyptian people allow this bogus Constitution to stand, they deserve what they get. Really, I don't think this will fly. There will be more trouble.
https://sites.google.com/site/livewildordie/
https://www.youtube.com/user/omacron
https://www.facebook.com/groups/parks4pres/
.
With the Brotherhood controlling the voting and counting was anyone stupid enough to believe there would be any other result?
We helped put these religious thugs in power. We will often regret that.
Hopefully, we will stop shipping boatloads of bucks to Egypt for the Brotherhood to prepare for their final war with Israel. That war when it comes will likely spread across the world.
.
No, we are now INCREASING our aide to Egypt, Muslim Brotherhood and all. Increasing, not decreasing. In other words, our government is doubling down on their blunder there.
Why does Arabs love the Sharia law but prefer to immigrate to the West? What is their purpose?
A lot of attention for a country who's last contribution to human culture and history happened 5.000 years ago.
These two are in conflict. It is almost impossible for one person to express a free dissenting opinion about a religion without someone feeling insulted.
According to article 45 I would have freedom to say Islam is bogus, and Mohammed a fraud because that is my opinion, and under Article 44 I would get arrested for it.
This constitution needs to be scrapped, and started all over again from scratch.
Freedom of speech except when it's not.
Good bye Egypt. When all is said and done Mubarak won't look so bad. They count on tourist dollars and that will dry up. Since the antiquities aren't all from Muhammad they will all have to be destroyed as they might have come from some infidel. These people are nuts and are taking over more and more areas. The caliphate is coming to fruition.