Referendum voting delayed in most provinces across Egypt

Egyptians are voting in the second phase of the constitutional referendum Cairo – Mohammed Aledissi, Mohammed Salama, Yosry Mohamed Groups and individuals observing the polling process taking place in 17 provinces in the second stage of the referendum on Egypt’s draft constitution have reported violations. The infractions included delays in opening polling stations and Islamists directing voters to approve the draft constitution, while the Muslim Brotherhood say a police car was handing out anti-constitution literature. There are also reports of pre-marked ballot papers for \"Yes\" as well as absence of judicial oversight.
Dozens have blocked a road in Qena to protest against the delays.
Twenty Luxor voting stations opened their doors to voters late amid middling turnover at other stations. Substation number 49 at the Sahel el-Qaria school [southern Luxor] was also late to open its doors to the voting public as the overseeing judge’s car caught fire on the way.
A senior judicial source said that a \"team\" was dispatched to ensure Judge Mohammed Abdelsabour Abdelkereem’s safety and bring him to the voting location in another vehicle. The source said the incident was being investigated to ascertain whether the fire should be treated as suspicious. The judge is now overseeing the vote.
Hundreds of voters have been queuing outside some voting stations since the early morning to avoid the anticipated high turnout, while other voting stations are seeing very limited turnout.
Overseeing judges are yet to arrive at 20 polling stations. These are the Asfoun Youth Centre, Mahmoud Hassan school, el-Zeneiqa Azhar Institute, el-Shaheed Hashem school and Sayed Ahmed ben Idriss school.
The local April 6 Youth Movement drew graffiti on the asphalt outside the Abul Haggag Elementary School reading “No to the constitution,” while the provincial Security Directorate has announced a high state of alert in preparation for the security operation to ensure the smooth running of the referendum on the draft constitution.
There are 695 substations in the province divided among 188 polling stations serving 685,009 voters.
In the province of Ismailia, Education Minister Ibrahim Ghoneim cast his ballot at substation number 25 at el-Nahda Elementary School. The minister said Egypt was witnessing a \"celebration of democracy.\"
Some infractions took place in the coastal province as three polling stations opened late in the town of el-Tel el-Kebir. At the Safwa Preparatory School for Boys in Abu Attwa, members of Islamist parties were instructing voters on how to approve the draft constitution. Activist Mona Yussef reported them to security personnel.
The local April 6 operations chamber also logged violations relating to attempts to direct citizens towards a \"Yes\" vote. Khaled Shukri said they received reports regarding a Freedom and Justice Party kiosk providing voters with their registry information outside the el-Safa school in the Abu Attwa district. The voters register at the Ahmed Orabi school was lost, Shukri reported.
At the el-Haiy el-Awal’s Ismailia Secondary School for Girls, the official manning the voter register is absent. \"Yes\" posters were seen on the gates at el-Safa school in the village of Abu Shehata as a group of \"bearded men\" instructed people to vote \"Yes.\"
Voting at the Zukhrufeya School for Girls is being overseen by a State Cases Authority official and not a judge. The initial April 6 report placed voter turnout in Ismailia at an intermediate level.
The Ismailia National Salvation Front [NSF] operations room has also logged an incident of a bearded official instructing voters at substation number 9 at the el-Sheikh Zayed school. At el-Shaheed el-Gawad Hosni school, the overseeing official refused to provide an ID proving he is a judge. The NSF also reported that substation number 28 at the Rabea el-Adwaeya school is operating under the oversight of Ministry of Education officials and no judges are present.
\"NSF members and Constitution Party founding member Mohammed el-Nahas has raised “suspicions\" surrounding the judge overseeing the polling at the Fatma el-Zahraa Preparatory School for Girls, and that the man’s identity is currently being investigated.
El-Nahas also reported incidents of voters being instructed at polling stations in the suburbs as well as an incident at the el-Zuhour Elementary where the ballot box was sealed only 90 minutes after voting began.
The Muslim Brotherhood representative in Fayed reported a police car handing out campaign literature for a \"No\" vote, while the Salafist Nour Party’s observers also logged delays in some voting stations, especially in the Abu Sultan quarter.
The Kefaya Movement reports that the judge overseeing the polling at the el-Nasereyya school is deliberately stalling the voting process, while the Constitution Party’s observers have reported that substations number one and two at the Ismailia School for Girls were understaffed.
Judge Mahmoud Shousha of the Ismailia division of the Supreme Elections Commission [SEC] said that ballot papers printed with the date December 15 2012 were okay, as the referendum \"was initially set to be held on one day.\"
The Eastern el-Qantara polling station saw a heavy turnout of women voters and no infractions were reported over the initial hours of polling.
The director of the Egyptian Human Rights Council, el-Sayed Dawood, said he personally saw polling stations open at the appointed 0800 hrs and being overseen by judges at the town of Eastern al-Qantara.
April 6 has also reported judges being late to arrive at their appointed stations as of 0900 hrs at the town of el-Khanka. Affected polling stations include el-Manayel Secondary and Amr ebn el-Awss. Similar delays have taken place at the town of Toukh, where polling stations at the el-Ammar Preparatory School for Boys and el-Ammar Secondary were late to open their doors to voters. At Shebeen el-Anater, Kafr Sanadwa Elementary was also affected.
In el-Fayoum, substations in the Snoress region did not open until 1000 hrs. The Human Rights Council also reported that the overseeing judge handed over the ballot books to a polling official who is handing them out to voters himself at substation number 39.
There was an extremely dense voter turnout at al-Ahram Preparatory in the district of el-Haram, resulting in disorder. Fights broke out between tribal elders in a number of polling stations in the city due to some polling stations being moved, which prevented a number of locals from voting. The report detected the presence of ballot papers pre-marked for “I approve” in substation number 10 at Beni Amer Primary in the el-Adawi region, al-Menia province.
Qena Security Directorate operations chamber found that a large number of judges delayed the opening of polling stations to the voting public, including 13 stations in Nag Hammadi alone.
Qena Director of Security Maj. Gen. Salah Mazid said 25 Central Security formations, 6,000 officers and conscripts, 320 combat groups and 10 armoured vehicles were used to secure the voting process in the southern province.
Dozens of people in the village of Hew in Nag Hammadi placed roadblocks on the eastern country freeway between Qena and Nag Hammadi, preventing the passage of vehicles in protest against the judges being late.
There was a verbal argument between members of the Islamist groups and supporters of the Coalition of the Youth of the Revolutions due to the latter attempting to influence female voters outside the Religious Institute polling station. Another row took place between human rights observer Saber Hamza and one of the officers, after the officer refused to allow Hamza to enter the premises.