Egypt’s referendum

Some 38 per cent of eligible voters turned up to cast a vote. If the figures stand, it would mean that the endorsement was 33 per cent higher than the constitution drafted under the Presidency of Mohamed Morsi, who the military ousted in a coup last year. Anti-coup activists and some domestic observers have however […]

Some 38 per cent of eligible voters turned up to cast a vote. If the figures stand, it would mean that the endorsement was 33 per cent higher than the constitution drafted under the Presidency of Mohamed Morsi, who the military ousted in a coup last year.
Anti-coup activists and some domestic observers have however derided the figures as unrealistic, and reflected a throwback to the days of dictatorship in the country in which elections were won by over 99 per cent of the votes.
Moreover, a significant portion of non-voters made up of followers of the Muslim Brotherhood and pro-democracy activists, withheld legitimacy from the process by officially announcing their boycott. Political groups disenchanted with a creeping military dictatorship of the Hosni Mubarak pedigree also stayed away.
While there is need for the Muslim Brotherhood, which the government has declared a terrorist organisation and outlawed, to keep reminding Egyptians and the international community that Morsi’s democratic mandate remains valid despite the ongoing repression in Egypt, casting a no vote in alliance with other opposition groups may very well have provided a clearer picture of the status of the referendum. Morsi’s critics claim that based on a ‘Sharia-only’ election pledge, he would never have won a majority mandate. This was an opportunity lost to disprove such claims.
 The new constitution guarantees ‘’equality between men and women’’ that Morsi was accused of ignoring.
The new constitution forbids the formation of political parties based on ‘’religion, race, gender or geography’’. This is clearly targeted at the Muslim Brotherhood. Indeed, there have been suggestions that widespread attacks on churches and Christian communities during Morsi’s rule were done by agents linked to the military in order to build up dissent and undermine his support base.  
The interim Prime Minister Hazeem Beblawi said the referendum was the ‘’most critical moment’’ for Egypt, a reference to the prospect of the Moslem Brotherhood dividing ranks of opponents and consolidating its power in the long run.  It is a tragic fact of history that successive dictatorships have invested so much in stifling democratic movements and emasculating dissenting groups like the Muslim Brotherhood rather than in engaging them in patient dialogue based on nation-building principles to ensure Egypt’s leadership role in a global environment.
In Egypt, the past intrudes into the present as habits, attitudes of mind and material interests. Egypt conducted its first and widely acclaimed democratic elections in 2012, six decades after Gamal Abdel Nasser’s military coup in 1952. Sustained war-readiness against Israel and an alliance with the United States gave its military rulers the excuse to block the light of free speech and fair elections that flickered in the wake of the so-called Arab Spring. The hangover of military rule among Egyptians is fanning support for General Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, who himself grew up under public memories adulating Nasser. Military swagger can attract as many votes as the photo-op of a politician kissing babies during election campaigns. Yet the appeal of al-Sisi must go beyond that of the huge gorilla protecting frightened chickens against the Moslem Brotherhood. He must begin to build a dialogue across political visions for moving towards a new Egypt that is in tandem with the rest of the world in democratic ethos and the accommodation of dissenting voices.
The current condition of Egypt being a volcanic civil war waiting to erupt is a matter that the African Union must engage with intensively. Building a new Egypt on a brutal policy of suppressing significant constituencies such as the Muslim Brotherhood cannot ensure peace and bring the stability that the country badly needs.