SHEIKH ZUWAYYED, Egypt — During the Friday sermon, the imam of one of this conservative North Sinai town's mosques attacked the Egyptian regime and its call for the constitutional referendum. "They cracked down on everything resembling Islam including the Islamic charities and allowed the Christian ones to operate, and then they tell us it's not a war on Islam and call us to vote on their constitution."

The finger-wagging imam's message echoed through the mosque located a couple of miles away from the Zohur military barracks and less than a mile from the vast Sheikh Zuwayyed police compound. But every one of the town residents attending the sermon seemed to have already decided what their vote will be, if they participate.

Unlike the rest of Egypt, people in different parts of the volatile North Sinai province are evaluating their participation in the referendum — scheduled Jan. 14-15 — through militant threats and the level of security control that continue to fluctuate since the July 3 ouster of former President Mohammed Morsi.

"I am going to vote for the constitution, but other members of my family will vote against it, and some others will fear even walking past a polling station especially in Sheikh Zuwayyed and Rafah were most of the militants operate," said a North Sinai resident who met Al-Monitor in Sheikh Zuwayyed.