Youth movement accuses Egyptian government of trying to fix referendum

The April 6 Youth Movement has accused the interim president of Egypt of exploiting his legislative authority to pass a law “that opens the door to the manipulation of the referendum on the constitution”. The movement made the accusation on its Facebook page.

The group said that Adly Mansour, the head of the Supreme Constitutional Court who was appointed as Egypt’s interim president by the leaders of the military coup last July, is intent on holding the referendum over two days instead of one. This, say his critics, will allow people so inclined to vote twice in different locations. Mansour issued a decree on Monday to amend some of the legal regulations governing the exercise of political rights. Voters will be allowed to vote in the district in which they live and then it will be possible for them to go to vote again in the district registered on their identity card.

This law sparked a great deal of controversy during the presidential election in 2012 won by Dr Mohamed Morsi, as well as the constitutional referendum in the same year. The legal opinion at the time rejected such a legal allowance as it opens the door to widespread electoral fraud.

According to observers, this is considered to be the most serious action against the integrity of any voting process; its danger increases in the light of the current divisions in Egyptian society and the fact that large segments of the community have declared a boycott of the referendum on the constitution.

Source: Arabi21