Strong Egypt Party: The revolution’s constitution has yet to be written

The Strong Egypt Party issued a statement on Monday slamming the results of the constitutional referendum, saying the 98.1 percent approval rating was a sign of Egypt’s return to “the club of totalitarian and authoritarian countries.”

The statement harshly condemned the state’s campaign to mobilize for a “yes” vote ahead of the referendum, using the nation’s resources in the interests of one ruler and his entourage.

"Egypt has come back officially — and unfortunately — to the ranks of the countries where dissidents are traitors, opposite opinions are foreign agents and patriotism is only for those who blindly support," the party said.

Seven Strong Egypt Party members were arrested in the days leading up to the referendum on charges related to hanging posters urging a "no" vote on the constitution. In protest against the arrests, the party boycotted the entire electoral process.

The arrests provoked condemnation from national and international human rights organizations as well as foreign elections monitoring bodies.

The international monitoring mission Transparency International (TI) said in an official statement Thursday that a free and fair voting process in the constitutional referendum was “impaired” by the political context leading up to the polls, citing the arrest of the Strong Egypt Party members in particular.

"Of further concern in the period prior to the referendum are in particular violent attacks by security forces against protesters, violent attacks on security forces that appear politically motivated, the detention of scores of persons affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, the politically motivated  prosecution of these persons as well as non-Muslim Brotherhood critics of the government, and the  new law on assembly restricting this right," TI warned.

The Strong Egypt Party was founded by former Muslim Brotherhood leader Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh, and many of its members defected from the deposed Islamist group. The party has been viewed as a promising moderate “middle way” by supporters, and dismissed by critics as an offshoot of the Brotherhood.

In Monday’s statement, the party reiterated its respect for those who participated in the constitutional referendum, but also underscored the low voter turnout.

The High Elections Commission had announced a voter turnout of 38.6 percent, but the party argued that "a real and a permanent constitution for Egypt won't pass with only one third of the total votes.”

The statement also pointed to a seeming lack of youth participation in the referendum, interpreting this absence as a sign that the current regime does not represent the youth.