Egypt’s National Elections Authority announced on Tuesday that Egyptians have voted to pass a number of constitutional amendments in a public referendum, with 88.83% voting in favour. The turnout was average, with 44.3 percent of 61,344,503 eligible voters participating. Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, whose term has been extended by two years as a result of the referendum, thanked Egyptians for their patriotism and participation. Over the past three days, Egyptians cast their ballots on constitutional amendments to the 2014 charter, which were approved by the parliament with a majority, with 531 out of 596 members voting in favour, 22 voting against and one abstention. Here is a summary of the articles amended: Article 102 (first paragraph): This article aims to reduce the number of elected MPs in the House of Representatives (Egypt’s lower house of parliament) from 596 to 450 MPs, with 25 per cent of seats (112 seats) to be reserved for women representatives. Article 140 (first paragraph): The president of the republic shall be elected for six (instead of four) years by the end of his predecessor’s term, though he/she cannot remain in office for more…
