Mohamed ElBaradei, coordinator of National Salvation Front (NSF), criticised the constitution referendum results, asserting that intellectuals and well educated citizens voted against the constitution, while Islamists and illiterates voted in its favour.
ElBaradei, who is also chairperson of Al-Dostour Party, spoke to the News Hour TV programme, where he outlined his main concerns over the newly adopted constitution.
The leading opposition figure deemed the date of the adoption of the constitution as a “sad day for Egypt”, explaining that the document institutionalised the state instability. He added that the constitution challenged the indispensable rights and freedoms of citizens.
According to him, the most dangerous articles in the constitution are those allowing controversial religious groups to enter the legislative process and undermine the role of judiciary.
ElBaradei said several violations occurred during the constitution referendum, claiming that some citizens were prevented from voting. He added that the results came that way due to the high rate of illiteracy in Egypt, claiming that illiterates voted in favour of the constitution because they were told it is the only way to reach stability.
On the implications of the results, he said liberal opposition groups are getting stronger every day. He explained that opposition groups got 23% of March 2011 constitutional referendum, while they got 36% in the constitution referendum.
The Al-Dostour Party chairperson added that his party is planning to acquire majority in the upcoming parliament in order to “get the revolution back on track.”
Hany Khorshid, media coordinator of Al-Dostour Party, said the all the members of the National Salvation Front including Al-Dostour, would run for parliamentary elections on unified lists, in an attempt to gain majority of the parliamentary seats.
He added that the party is going to initiate a large awareness campaign, to introduce the party’s vision and aims to the citizens before the parliamentary elections. On the referendum violations, he said they sent several recommendations to the Supreme Electoral Committee for them to prevent such violations from occurring in the upcoming elections.
