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Morsi Amends Referendum Law To Limit Opposition Votes

The decision to amend Egypt’s referendum law to prohibit absentee balloting seems designed to ensure passage of the controversial draft constitution supported by President Morsi, Mohannad Sabry reports from Cairo.
Barbed wire erected by Egypt's republican guards separates between soldiers and protesters who chanted against the constitutional referendum scheduled on Saturday Dec. 15.

CAIRO — An amendment to Egypt’s referendum laws on Monday banning voters from casting their ballots except in constituencies where they are registered confirmed that President Mohammed Morsi is going ahead with the controversial referendum.

The abrupt amendment of the referendum laws that were drawn by the interim military government in 2011 meant that the number of citizens voting on Egypt’s postrevolution constitution — the first to be written since the 1971 constitution that consolidated Hosni Mubarak’s 30 years of dictatorship — will significantly shrink.

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