Update: Egypt’s expats vote on constitutional public referendum in 6 cities

CAIRO – 19 April 2019: Egypt’s embassies and consulates in six cities around the world have opened their doors, Friday, welcoming Egypt’s expats to vote on constitutional amendments referendum.

The first cities of which the public referendum has kicked off includes; Wellington’s New Zealand, Canberra and Sydney in Australia, Seoul of South Korea, Tokyo of Japan and China’s Capital Beijing according to their local timing.

New Zealand was the first country to welcome Egyptians to cast their ballot.

Lasheen Ibrahim, head of the National Election Authority (NEA), called on the Egyptian expatriates to vote in the planned referendum on constitutional amendments from Friday, April 19, to Sunday, April 21.

He also announced that the public referendum for the locals inside the country will take place from Saturday, April 20 to Monday, April 22.

Ibrahim urged the citizens to accompany their children and enjoy their constitutional right, urging them to ignore the boycott calls, and to cast their ballot in polling stations nationwide.

There will be a judge to supervise each of the ballot boxes, Ibrahim said, affirming that the NEA, the body charged with managing the electoral process, is keen to ensure the transparency of the voting process.

Egypt’s Ministry of Migration allocated hotlines for Egyptian expatriates to receive any complaints or questions related to the three-day public referendum on the constitutional amendments due to start on Friday in 140 embassies and consulates worldwide.

Egyptian expatriates could contact the Ministry of Migration on the following phone numbers: +201289850655/ +201017071810 / +201159476593. They also can contact the ministry via mail: Info.elections@emigration.gov.eg , the minister said in a statement on Thursday.

A total of 61 million eligible voters were called for casting their ballots in the public referendum on the constitutional amendments. Egypt’s House of Representative (the lower house of the Parliament) approved on Tuesday the new amendments.

14 constitutional articles subject to amendment: what changed?

CAIRO - 16 April 2019: The report of the Parliament's legislative committee has embedded the final legal context of the proposed constitutional amendments, including adding 10 new articles and amending 14 others, while an article was added to repeal the titles of two chapters of the constitution.