Voting results to be announced Saturday

The final tally of votes cast in the constitutional referendum is scheduled to be announced on Saturday night, the High Elections Commission said on Thursday.

A press conference for the announcement would be held in the State Information Service headquarters at 6 pm. Officials would announce the total number of voters who cast their ballots across the nation on Tuesday and Wednesday, and the final results of the poll.

Unofficial tallies have suggested that voter turnout was over 30 percent, and that the constitution passed with a vast majority of more than 95 percent of the vote.

Government officials already started celebrating the results, saying that they symbolize the Egyptian people’s awareness and determination.

However, in the midst of these celebrations, the Ministry of Health announced on Thursday that 13 people died during the voting process. Four victims died of natural causes as they were attempting to cast their ballots, while nine others died due to injuries incurred in clashes that took place in Sohag, Giza and other areas, according to the ministry’s statement.

More than 60 people were injured in the clashes, the ministry said.

In a press conference held after the Cabinet meeting on Thursday, interim Prime Minister Hazem al-Beblawi said that the voter turnout was “a coronation of the January 25 and June 30 revolutions and a continuation of their mutual goals,” the state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper reported.

January 14 and 15 — the dates of the referendum — should be seen as another revolution, Beblawi declared.

“I join Egyptians in their joy for the two days that are among the happiest days that the Egyptian people have ever witnessed. Two days that history will remember, as they reaffirm the will of the people who took to the streets on June 30 and January 25,” he added.

“Yes” was not only a vote in favor of the constitution, but also a rejection of violence and terrorism and a sign that the people want to build a new nation, the prime minister said.

Extensive media campaigns that preceded the referendum tied a “yes” vote to support for the June 30 protests and the current interim government. The referendum results are widely seen as a decisive indicator in a contest for legitimacy between the current government and the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood group, which boycotted the referendum.

The referendum results are “a definite indication that the people want to execute the roadmap, and realize economic development and stability,” presidential spokesperson Ihab Badawi said in a statement issued on Thursday, in which he celebrated the initial figures.

Following the announcement of the results, interim President Adly Mansour would issue new laws to facilitate the execution of the rest of the roadmap, Mansour’s constitutional advisor Awad Saleh told the privately owned newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm (AMAY).

Mansour has yet to announce if parliamentary or presidential elections would come first, but the interim president would soon issue new laws concerning both elections to correspond with the new constitution, Saleh said.

A timeframe for the next election would be announced within one month after the referendum results are announced, according to Saleh.