• ElBaradei to Egyptian leader: 'Fear God... postpone the referendum'

    AFP - Getty Images file

    Egyptian opposition leader and Nobel Prize laureate Mohamed ElBaradei leaves a press conference in Cairo on Nov. 22. In a televised message on Thursday, he warned that the divisive referendum on a draft constitution raises "the specter of civil war."

    By NBC News and wire services

    Egypt's most prominent democracy advocate has pleaded to President Mohammed Morsi to delay an upcoming vote on a draft constitution to avoid the "specter of civil war." 


    In an emotional televised message on Thursday, Nobel laureate Mohamed ElBaradei told the Islamist leader: "Fear God, Dr. Morsi and postpone the referendum." 

    His message comes two days before the Dec. 15 vote on the highly contentious constitution. Morsi and his Islamists allies support the charter while a wide spectrum of liberals, youth groups and others see both the process and the draft as flawed. 

    A day earlier, Egypt's liberal and secular opposition said it would call off a boycott and instead back a "no" vote in the referendum as long as safeguards are in place for a fair vote.

    The absence of a boycott could help ease confrontation on the streets.

    But the danger that the vote will not be regarded as legitimate remained. On Thursday, the Carter Center announced that it would not deploy witnesses to observe the process. In a release, the center said it was unable to assess the referendum process as needed because of the late release of regulations for accrediting witnesses.

    "The Carter Center hopes to witness the upcoming Peoples’ Assembly elections if the circumstances are conducive to meaningful observation and urges the Egyptian electoral authorities to take steps to ensure early accreditation of domestic and international election witnessing organizations," the release said.

    Egyptian rights groups have warned of possible election fraud, and expressed concern that a state-run human rights council has taken charge of issuing monitoring permits, in the past obtained directly from the elections committee.

    "The undersigned organizations are deeply concerned about the potential of rigging during or after the referendum," said the statement from a coalition of rights groups.

    NBC News' Ayman Mohyeldin and experts in Cairo talk about the Egyptian draft constitution in Google+ Hangout

    Photoblog: Egyptian Copts father in cave cathedral ahead of vote on constitution

    Meanwhile, the army called off "unity" talks involving rival factions, dealing a blow to efforts to resolve a worsening political crisis over the referendum and rein in street protests that have turned violent. 

    The latest convulsion in Egypt's transition to democracy was brought on by a decree last month from Morsi in which he awarded himself sweeping powers to push through the new constitution, a necessary prelude to parliamentary elections early next year. 

    The move generated a huge controversy, dividing the Arab world's most populous state and bringing thousands of pro- and anti-government protesters onto the streets in the worst upheaval since the fall of Hosni Mubarak almost two years ago.

    The unrest has so far claimed seven lives in clashes between the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood and the opposition. The army has yet to use force to keep protesters away from the presidential palace, now ringed with tanks, barbed wire and concrete barricades.

    Even as opposition hoped for a delay in the vote on Morsi's new basic law, some Egyptians abroad began voting on it at embassies.
     
    The main opposition coalition says the draft constitution does not reflect the aspirations of all of Egypt's 83 million people because of provisions which could give Muslim clerics a role in shaping laws. It wants a new charter with more safeguards for minority rights, including for the 10 percent of Egyptians who are Christian. 

    Morsi's supporters say the constitution is needed to continue the transition to democracy. Some deride their opponents as Mubarak-era "remnants" trying to cling to power.

    "We will vote 'no'," opposition politician and former Arab League chief Amr Moussa told Reuters.

    The opposition said that unless the referendum is held with full supervision by the judiciary, security guarantees and local and international monitoring, it would still call for a boycott. It also wants the vote held on one day rather than two.

    Islamists have won parliamentary and presidential elections since the fall of Mubarak. They want the vote on the new constitution to go ahead and are confident it will pass, paving the way for them to win a new parliamentary election next year.

    The opposition had argued that the chaotic protests and counter-protests of the last two weeks meant the referendum should be postponed. But large opposition rallies this week did not change Morsi's mind.

    Reuters, The Associated Press and NBC News' Kari Huus contributed to this report.

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  • 60 wounded in clashes between Egypt president's supporters and opposition protesters

    On the doorstep of Egypt's presidential palace, angry protesters accuse Mohamed Morsi of stealing power and imposing a constitution they consider illegal. NBC's Richard Engel reports.

    By NBC News staff and wire reports

    Updated at 4:25 p.m. ET -- Opposition protesters fought presidential supporters outside the Egyptian presidential palace on Wednesday, while inside the building the president's deputy proposed a way to end a crisis over a draft constitution that has split the most populous Arab nation.

    Stones and petrol bombs flew between opposition protesters and supporters of President Mohammed Morsi, and the Interior Ministry said 32 people had been arrested and three police vehicles destroyed.

    The Egyptian ministry of health told NBC News 60 people have been wounded in the clashes, but said there have been no fatalities.

    The president's backers tore down tents erected by opponents of Morsi who began a sit-in protest on Tuesday, Reuters reported.


    The demonstrators are angry over the president's expanded powers and his decision to rush through a new constitution they say does not represent the whole nation.

    Tweets from activists on the scene said some anti-Morsi protesters were overwhelmed by the president's backers, who beat some of the protesters with clubs. Rocks were thrown, and some protesters were left bleeding.

    Riot police were deployed between the two sides to try to stop confrontations that flared after dark despite an attempt by Vice President Mahmoud Mekky to ease the crisis.

    Mekky said amendments to disputed articles in the draft constitution could be agreed on with the opposition. A written agreement could then be submitted to the next parliament, to be elected after a referendum on the constitution on Dec. 15.

    "There must be consensus," he told a news conference, saying opposition demands had to be respected to reach a solution.

    Violence breaks out in Cairo, Egypt, outside Mohammed Morsi's presidential palace. NBC's Jim Maceda has more on the clashes and a possible constitutional compromise by the Egyptian government.

    Ready for dialogue
    In a news conference Wednesday, opposition coordinator Mohamed ElBaradei said: "We hold President Morsi and his government completely responsible for the violence happening in Egypt today."

    "We are ready for dialogue if the constitutional decree is canceled ... and the referendum on this constitution is postponed," he said of the document written by an Islamist-led assembly that the opposition says ignores its concerns.

    Opposition leaders have previously urged Morsi to retract the Nov. 22 decree, defer the referendum and agree to revise the constitution, but have not echoed calls from street protesters for his overthrow and the "downfall of the regime."

    Morsi has said his decree was needed to prevent courts still full of judges appointed by ousted leader Hosni Mubarak from derailing a constitution vital for Egypt's political transition.

    Protests spread to other cities, and offices of the Muslim Brotherhood's political party in Ismailia and Suez were torched.

    Morsi flees Egypt's presidential palace as 'last warning' protesters battle cops

     

    Khaled Elfiqi / EPA

    Egyptian supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood attack an Egyptian opposition protester in front of the presidential palace one day after a protest against President Mohammed Morsi, in Cairo, Egypt, on Dec. 5.

    On Wednesday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Egypt's unrest showed the urgent need for dialogue between Morsi's government and opposition figures.

    Supporters of Islamist president push Egypt to tipping point

    Speaking at NATO, Clinton said the U.S. wanted to see a constitution emerge that protects the rights of all Egyptians — men and women, and Christian and Muslim.

    But asked to specifically address any shortcoming in the Islamist-supported draft constitution, Clinton didn't name any.

    Rights groups as well as secular opponents of Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood have criticized the draft. They say it rolls back the rights of women, religious minorities and others.

    Liberals, Christians left out as Islamists back Egypt's draft constitution

    Clinton said Wednesday the dialogue needed to be two-way — not the government imposing its view.

    She also called for Egypt's courts to be allowed to function.

    On Tuesday, Egyptian police battled thousands of protesters outside the palace, prompting Morsi to leave the building, presidency sources said.

    The Associated Press reported that some people broke through barbed wire around the building and hurled chairs and rocks at retreating police on Tuesday night.

    The crowds had gathered in what organizers had dubbed "last warning" protests against Morsi, who infuriated opponents with a November 22 decree that expanded his powers. "The people want the downfall of the regime," the demonstrators chanted.

    NBC's Jim Maceda and Charlene Gubash, Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

    Hassan Ammar / AP

    Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi's supporters, background, clash with opponents, foreground, outside the presidential palace, in Cairo, Egypt, on Dec. 5.

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  • Accusations fly in second round of Egypt vote

    By msnbc.com news services

    Nasser Nasser / AP

    Reporters flank Egyptian reform leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mohamed ElBaradei while leaving a polling station after voting, in Giza, Egypt, Thursday.

    CAIRO -- Islamists and liberals accused election officials Thursday of filling out ballot forms for elderly or confused voters at some polling stations during the second round of parliamentary elections. If confirmed as a pattern, the reports could chip away at the credibility of what has so far been the freest and fairest vote in Egypt's modern history.

    Under Hosni Mubarak's 30-year regime, elections were systemically rigged and the corruption was a major impetus behind the popular uprising that ousted the authoritarian leader in February. But as the polls closed, it was still unclear how widespread the problems were.

    The head of the election commission, Abdel-Moez Ibrahim, described the allegations of wrongdoing as "a strong wave of rumors which aimed at driving wedge between the judges and the people." He said he investigated some incidents and found out that judges overseeing the voting were helping disabled, illiterate voters. But because of the accusations, judges now tell voters asking for help that this is not their role.

    "If people lose confidence in their judges, this will lead to a state collapse," he said.

    The second round of voting in nine of the country's 27 provinces covered vast rural areas where the two Islamist blocs that dominated in the first round look poised to cement and probably even bolster their already overwhelming majority. In many of the races in this stage, the two Islamist alliances contested head-to-head.

    These elections are the first litmus test of the strength of political forces that have emerged in the 10 months since the uprising. The political forces are roughly divided into two camps — the Islamists on one side and on the other, secular and liberal groups that largely drove the uprising but failed to turn their achievement into a victory at the polls.

    However, the crux of power in Egypt remains in the hands of the ruling military council that took power from Mubarak. It is the executive and ultimate authority on all matters of state in absence of a president.

    The most immediate and urgent concern for the liberal and secular groups is the drafting of the country's new constitution. The new parliament will be in charge of picking the 100-member constituent assembly to draft the constitution and many fear an Islamist-dominated parliament may lead to a document guided by strict religious principles.

    Casting his vote for the first time in his life, 68-year-old reform leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei responded to fears of a parliament dominated by Islamists by saying that a new constitution might also mean new elections.

    "This is the first step to democracy," he said. Commenting on alleged violations, he said: "This is nothing compared to before."

    Many Egyptians are voting for the first time in their lives, having shunned the rigged votes of the past decades knowing it was not a true democracy.

    "I'm 61 years old and I've never voted before. I came here today as I couldn't vote yesterday because of the crowds," said Azza Mohamed at a busy Cairo polling station.

    "Everyone who votes today knows their vote won't be lost," she said, on the second day of the second round of a complicated multi-phase election that will last into January.

    The two leading Islamist alliances — the front-running Muslim Brotherhood and second-place Al-Nour representing ultraconservative Salafi Muslims — won close to 70 percent of seats in the first round on Nov. 28-29, according to an AP tally compiled from official results.

    This round and a third and final vote in January are expected to solidify those gains because they are concentrated in rural areas that are traditionally more conservative. Many of those areas turned into Islamist strongholds now that the former ruling party has been dissolved.

    The biggest surprise of the first round of voting was the strength of the Salafis, with their Al-Nour alliance winning a fifth of all seats contested. The Salafis want to strictly impose Islamic law, or Shariah, in Egypt and have been railing against tourists drinking alcohol or wearing skimpy bathing suits at beach resorts.

    "Al-Nour will sweep the vote here for sure," said Ali Abdel-Ghaffar, a Salafi party member standing inside a polling center in Giza province on the western outskirts of Cairo illegally campaigning. "People are Salafi by nature. For them even sitting in a coffee shop is improper," he said.

    It was difficult to say how widespread any abuses or irregularities were, but more allegations surfaced in this round than in the previous one in November as competition heats up.

    Among other problems, parties continued to campaign outside polling centers in violation of the election law, which imposes 48 hours of campaign silence before polls open.

    The Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, which led the first round with 47 percent of the vote, and an alliance of liberal youth parties have filed complaints, saying officials at several stations were telling voters who to choose.

    The party issued a report Thursday accusing supervising judges in the province of Beheira, 112 miles (180 kilometers) north of Cairo, of guiding voters to choose Al-Nour, the Brotherhood's key Islamist rival and the second-place vote getter.

    In another polling center, two judges, a school administrator and a village mayor filled in ballots for candidates who were members of Mubarak's dissolved ruling party and are now running as independents or members of new parties, the Brotherhood said.

    On Thursday, a representative from the Brotherhood accused a judge of instructing voters to vote for a competing party, a military officer at the polling station in al-Agouza neighborhood in Giza said. The judge filed a police complaint against the representative, who was escorted to the nearby police station for investigation, the officer said.

    At the same station, a liberal party representative accused volunteers of paying voters to choose Islamist candidates, and complained to the military officer guarding the station.

    In nearby Dokki district, officials at polling centers flooded with ultraconservative Islamist party banners were seen filling out ballot papers for voters, according to a youth party born out of the uprising called The Egyptian Current.

    Another secular alliance of mostly liberal youth parties, Revolution Continues, said its representatives in the Suez Canal city of Ismailia were kicked out of polling centers after complaining that officials there were telling voter who to vote for.

    Nashwa el-Houfi, an independent candidate and a journalist, gave a detailed account of a judge marking ballots on his desk inside a polling center. El-Houfi told the private Egyptian TV network CBC on Wednesday that she tried to take a picture of the judge when he refused to stop marking the ballots. She said the judge later held her inside the polling center after closing its doors and summoned police.

    Judge Ahmed Helal, who was monitoring a polling station in Shebein el-Kom in Menoufia province, said it was his legal duty to assist people who cannot mark ballots on their own. According to an official Cabinet report in June, nearly 27 percent of the 85 million Egyptians are illiterate.

    "It's the law that we have to help the voter to vote in case they are incapable or cannot see," he said. "We tell them what's on the ballot and they tell us how they want to vote."

    Helal held a copy of the election law, which included a clause that said it is the legal right of judges to assist voters when needed. It specified, as an example, that judges can mark ballots for the blind. 

    The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this story.

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