Egyptians Vote In Referendum To Extend Sisi's Rule

Egyptians were voting Saturday in a referendum that aims to cement the rule of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the former coup leader who presents himself as a rock of stability in a turbulent region

Cairo, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 20th Apr, 2019 ) :Egyptians were voting Saturday in a referendum that aims to cement the rule of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the former coup leader who presents himself as a rock of stability in a turbulent region.

Despite protests from human rights groups, the three-day plebiscite is expected to approve sweeping constitutional changes that will extend Sisi's rule of the Arab world's most populous country until at least 2024.

Beyond that, the amendments would allow Sisi, 64, to run for another six-year term while boosting his control over the judiciary and giving the military even greater influence in political life.

Sisi himself was among the first to vote when polls open, casting his ballot in the upmarket Cairo suburb of Heliopolis.

In Shubra, a working-class neighbourhood of the capital, dozens of voters, mostly women carrying their children, queued outside a polling station in the local high school.

Troops as well as police provided security, an AFP photographer reported.

The referendum bucks the trend of the region's mini-Arab Spring, in which mass pro-democracy protests this month swept away veteran presidents in Algeria and Sudan.

Sisi made his grab for power in the turbulent years after the original Arab Spring protests of 2011 toppled long-time ruler Hosni Mubarak, who was followed in office by Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

Sisi overthrew Morsi in 2013 and the following year won his first term as president. He was re-elected in March 2018 with more than 97 percent of the vote after standing virtually unopposed.

International observers slammed both elections while Sisi's government has been widely criticised for sweeping repression of its opponents -- both Islamists and secular groups.

Human Rights Watch charged the constitutional amendments aim to strengthen Sisi's "authoritarian rule", while Amnesty International said that parliament, having already backed the changes, had shown a "complete disregard for human rights".