Protests in Cairo on eve of vote

[JanDutchy]

Source: AFP

CAIRO — Pro-democracy activists who spearheaded the mass rallies that ousted Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak were poised for a new protest Friday on the eve of a referendum on the military's transition plans.

The Coalition of the Youth of the Revolution called the rally in Cairo's Tahrir Square to urge voters to reject an amended constitution intended to underpin fresh presidential and parliamentary elections this year and a swift return to civilian rule.

The military council, which took over when Mubarak quit on February 11, has said it will not try to stop the rally even though a ban on all media analysis or opinion pieces on the referendum came into force on Friday morning and was to last until the close of polls at 1700 GMT on Saturday


Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hncxKZxXrDtORT60-Ok36iT5JNQQ?docId=CNG.09899922ab540253d9e5d03e579727a3.231

---

Referendum on constitution sees Egypt apprehensive

CAIRO // Whatever happens in tomorrow's national referendum on a package of proposed amendments to the Egyptian constitution, the vote will already be making a bit of history.

For the first time in living memory, Egyptians will hold a national vote uncertain of how it will turn out. To a people long accustomed to stage-managed elections where the result was never in doubt, the process is unsettling.

There is another reason for apprehension. Tomorrow's vote marks the point where, officially at least, Egyptian politics becomes complicated.

Until now, most of Egypt enjoyed the stark and unifying simplicity of the revolution, in which a diverse collection of political forces was able to rally around a one-sentence common cause: President Hosni Mubarak and his regime must go.

read more: http://www.thenational.ae/news/worldwide/middle-east/referendum-on-constitution-sees-egypt-apprehensive

[dipsydoodle]

1. diverse collection of political forces

That's also the shape of things to come in Libya too with over 70 competing tribes.

[SkyDaddy7]

2. I know! For some reason I have a bad feeling about Libya...

Post Gaddafi...Even before that, I bet if Gaddafi knows he is about to be killed or he is going to lose control of the country I bet he does something INSANE like blow up all his oil fields. Just a thought as he does not seem like the person who would not go out without a BIG BANG!

[No Elephants]

3. They may end up more democratic than we are.

"On the surface, the eight amendments formulated by a military-appointed commission of legal scholars, satisfy many of the basic demands of the protesters who brought the old regime down. The proposed changes to the 1971 constitution would establish presidential limits of two four-year terms, eliminate obstacles to forming political parties and launching independent presidential campaigns, limit the once-dominant powers of the executive branch and make it much harder for future rulers to declare martial law.

Those changes are generally agreed upon by all Egyptian political actors."


Odd that this would be so controversial?


"But there are more controversial amendments as well, including changes that would block anyone holding dual citizenship or married to a foreign citizen from becoming president."



I've heard that many of the people who want the military in power longer want more time for new parties to form and become known, so people don't simply vote for the old guard simply because of name recognition.

[karynnj]

4. It might be that there are a significant number of Egypt's educated class married

to foreigners. Years ago, my sister and her husband lived in Egypt, while he was working on a US funded project. Their kids went to the British school, as it was closer than the American one. The school's kids were ex-pats and many kids from top Egyptian families. I suspect that the number of Egyptian leaders, who married foreigners is higher here than in the US.

In the US, no matter what you think of them as people or politicians, do you think that John Kerry, John Heinz, and Jeb Bush should have been barred from running for President due to their marriages?