Heavy security as Egyptians vote on constitution

Long lines of voters began to form nearly two hours before polling stations opened in Cairo, including in Imbaba, where an explosive device went off outside a Cairo courthouse.

An Egyptian man casts his ballot during the first day of voting on the new constitution at a polling station in the Abassyia neighborhood, Cairo. Khaled Elfiqi / EPA

CAIRO // Egyptians were voting Tuesday on a draft constitution that represents a key milestone in a military-backed road map put in place after the nation’s Islamist president was overthrown after massive protests against his rule last July.

The two-day balloting also deals a heavy blow to the Muslim Brotherhood's campaign for the reinstatement of ousted President Mohammed Morsi and paves the way for a likely presidential run by the nation's top general, Abdel Fattah El Sisi.

A vast security operation was underway to protect polling stations and voters against possible attacks by militants loyal to Mr Morsi, with 160,000 soldiers and more than 200,000 policemen deployed across the nation of some 90 million people.

Shortly before polls opened, an explosive device went off outside a Cairo courthouse in the densely populated neighbourhood of Imbaba. The blast damaged the front of the building and shattered windows in nearby buildings but caused no casualties.

Long lines of voters began to form nearly two hours before polling stations opened in Cairo, including in Imbaba, where the blast promptly whipped up anti-Brotherhood sentiment with chants and shouting against the Islamist group.

“The dogs, the traitors!” shouted a man on a motorcycle as he passed by the courthouse after the blast. A line of voters in a nearby polling station chanted in unison: “Long live Egypt!”

A crowd of several hundred angry residents gathered outside the courthouse, some carrying posters of Gen El Sisi. “Everyone must go now and vote to show those dogs, the Brothers,” shouted one man.

Outside a nearby polling station, 67-year-old Alaa Al Nabi Mohammed echoed a similar sentiment — that Egyptians have consigned Morsi and the Brotherhood’s year-long rule to the past.

“I am here to send a message to the world and to those who hate Egypt that we want to live and get our country back on its feet,” he said.

Another voter, Ismail Mustafa, said he was voting “yes” in the hope of ending the turmoil that has engulfed Egypt since the 2011 ouster of the country’s longtime autocratic ruler Hosni Mubarak.

The Tuesday and Wednesday balloting is the first electoral test for the popularly backed removal from power of Mr Morsi and his Brotherhood.

A comfortable “yes” vote and a respectable turnout would bestow legitimacy on the cascade of events that followed the coup while undermining the Islamists’ argument that Mr Morsi remains the nation’s elected president.

Morsi’s Brotherhood, which is now branded as a terrorist group, has called for a boycott of the vote. Mr Morsi himself is facing three separate trials on charges that carry the death penalty.

* Associated Press