Egypt Islamists Call for Protests ahead of Vote Result

Islamist backers of ousted Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi called for protests Friday ahead of the release of results from a constitutional referendum they mocked as a return to the bad old days of authoritarianism.

The military-installed interim authorities trumpeted the two-day poll as a chance for voters to endorse the army's overthrow of Egypt's first freely elected president last July after mass protests on the streets.

But the opposition, which called a boycott of the vote, described it as a farce and predicted it would culminate in the sort of massive electoral fraud that characterized the three-decade rule of Hosni Mubarak, ended by the Arab Spring uprising of 2011.

Flagship state-owned daily Al-Ahram hailed a 98 percent vote in support of the new charter drawn up the interim authorities to replace the Islamist-inspired one adopted under Morsi's rule in December 2012.

The outcome had never been in doubt in the face of the Islamists' boycott of a vote they regarded as a bid to legitimize Morsi's overthrow.

Attention was focused instead on turnout among Egypt's 53 million registered voters, all the more so because aides of army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi have said it will be a key "indicator" for him in determining whether to stand for the presidency himself in an election promised for later this year.

Preliminary tallies suggested turnout had reached 39 percent in most provinces in the two days of polling on Tuesday and Wednesday, sharply up on the 33 percent registered in the Morsi-era referendum just over a year ago.

The office of interim president Adly Mansour hailed a "high turnout" in the vote on a new charter it says gives new protections for free speech and women's rights, although it gave no figures.

"It was a beautiful day for Egypt and democracy," said Mansour's spokesman Ehab Badawy.

The government said the vote showed support for Morsi's overthrow. "This was also a referendum on June 30," said government spokesman Hany Salah, referring to the day when millions of protesters took to the streets demanding Morsi's resignation.

'Fools' celebrations'

But the Islamist opposition mocked the figures put out by state media and called for mass demonstrations on Saturday of next week, the third anniversary of Mubarak's overthrow, to protest what they charged was a return to the mockery of democracy that characterized his rule.

"Let the putschists deceive themselves and hold fools' celebrations," it said.

"The whole world laughs at them as they bring back six decades' corruption and fraud, and the usual 99.99% results in all elections in their favor -- of course."

The US administration is closely watching the results of Egypt's referendum, but has not yet decided whether to unfreeze some $1.5 billion in aid, the State Department said on Thursday.

Washington suspended its aid -- most of it military -- last October, angered that there had been little indication of a return to democracy after Morsi's overthrow.

"There are a range of factors we look to," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters in Washington, saying merely holding the constitutional referendum this week was not enough.

The referendum has put the Islamists on the back foot, and gives the Egyptian government even less incentive to negotiate with Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood.

The government has designated the Brotherhood a "terrorist organisation," making even expressions of verbal support punishable by heavy prison sentences.

Morsi himself has been in custody since his overthrow and is currently standing trial in the first of three separate cases being brought against him.

"We are definitely moving forward, whether they want to or not," the government spokesman told Agence France Presse. "We believe they live in a virtual world."