Int’l Mission of 69 Members Monitoring Egypt’s Referendum 2019

The International Mission for Monitoring Egypt’s public referendum on some constitutional amendments in 2019 issued its first statement Saturday evening.

In the first day of the public referendum, the International Mission began its observing activities in 14 governorates across Egypt.

The sixty-nine-member mission includes four international organizations from three continents; Greece’s Ecco, Uganda’s Gales , Lebanon’s Volunteers Without Border and Maaet for Peace, Development and Human Rights located in Egypt.

[caption id="attachment_46630" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Int’l Mission of 69 Members Monitoring Egypt’s Referendum 2019[/caption]

According to the statement, the mission’s delegation reported some notes as follows:

Generally, the voting process was calm and stable in most ballot stations.

In Giza, many rallies were seen at streets to encourage other voters to take part in the referendum and say ‘Yes’ to the amendments.

In Alexandria, the mission’s members faced some troubles as some of them were prevented from accessing some ballot stations.

[caption id="attachment_46631" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Int’l Mission of 69 Members Monitoring Egypt’s Referendum 2019[/caption]

The most remarkable notice was that Mostakbal Watan Party’s members spread all over the visited polling stations, urging people to take part in the voting process.

In Gharbiya governorate, Salafist Nour Party’s members took to streets, asked people to participate in the voting and urged them to say “Yes” to the constitutional changes.

Egyptian voters rallied to cast their ballots. Dozens were lined in long queues from early morning before ballot stations nationwide.

More than 500 foreign correspondents are covering the referendum.

The list of foreign correspondents includes representatives of 127 press and media organizations, including 32 news agencies, 43 television channels, 13 radio stations and 39 newspapers, including 41 Europeans, 23 American, 27 Asians and 36 Arab media organizations.

[caption id="attachment_46632" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Int’l Mission of 69 Members Monitoring Egypt’s Referendum 2019[/caption]

Egypt's 596-member parliament approved the amendments on Tuesday, voting by 531 to 22 in favor.

Some 61 million of Egypt's nearly 100 million population are eligible to vote. The result is expected in the days after Monday's final day of voting. Polls are due to close on Saturday at 21:00 Cairo Local Time (CLT).