It became obvious that Egypt’s referendum over the new constitution is in the wrong direction, not because the result is going to be accepting or rejecting the constitution, but because the referendum continues to lead to clashes in the streets. The National Salvation Front proved that there are sever violations happened during the first and the second phases of the vote over the constitution, while Islamists backing President Mohamed Morsi insist that the vote result will be “accepting” the constitution because of the people’s hope to find stability.

The Muslims Brotherhood is Egypt have been working hard in the past week to gather as much acceptors as it can, hoping to see a big difference in votes between accepting and rejecting the new constitution. On the other side, Egypt’s opposition detected fraud and violations took place during the voting process in its first and second phases such as, having fake judges observing the voting centers, as a lot of voting centers were being managed by teachers or University professors, which is against the law in Egypt.

Moreover, unofficial results for the first round of voting released by Freedom and Justice party, which is the Muslim Brotherhood’s political arm, showed that 56% said “yes” for the new constitution, while 44% said “No”, knowing that the majority in Cairo said “No” and this clearly annoyed the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. In case the trend continued today, it is expected to see massive marches all over Egypt refusing the constitution and the fraud took place by Islamists who support President Morsi.

We should say that the opposition announced that the first round’s result was 66% for “No” and 34% for “Yes”. The opposition also reported what it called “unprecedented rigging” which included more than 700 violations in only 10 governorates, amid the absence of judicial observation.

Clashes were seen in different governorates during the voting phases and it was said that a man was killed with gun shot in Qina during fights between supporters and the opposition. Civilian Organizations monitoring the referendum said that a number of Christians were stopped from going to their voting center, as Islamists closed the centers and threatened Christian families, knowing that almost all Christian citizens in Egypt are rejecting the new constitution. However, the Police managed to open some of the closed voting centers, but Islamists are still warning Christians from going to vote, especially in Al Minia.

It is expected that we will see a number of demonstrations in the coming hours, before announcing the referendum result, while deadly clashes remain expected. It was said that the Muslim Brotherhood members are preparing to stay in the streets tonight and tomorrow to celebrate the result that should come showing Egyptians agreed on the constitution, as they expect, while the opposition is expected to call for a demonstration in Tahrir square tomorrow, after the preliminary signs of the referendum results appear.

The Egyptian army started to secure the main buildings all over Egypt, and it is increasing the number of soldiers around Ittehadya Palace that witnessed deadly clashes before between Islamists and the opposition.

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The Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi called the Egyptians to vote on a new constitution prepared by a Committee that witnessed serious conflicts between the supporters of the president and the opposition. Egypt has been witnessing marches or demonstrations by the opposition since 20 days, in Tahrir Square and in front of Ittihadya Palace, where President Morsi is managing the leading Arab country.

Such call for referendum is expected to lead to deadly confrontation between the supporters and the opposition, after Egypt witnessed clashes between the Muslim Brotherhood members and other citizens who are against Morsi’s decisions, knowing that such clashes led to 7 dead bodies among them one MB member, in addition to more than 700 injuries.

Moreover, President Morsi gave the army what is called “Judicial arrest rights”, so that Egypt’s army can play a role in securing the referendum and help the Ministry of Interior to control the tough situation. Months back, President Morsi criticized the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces when it gave the same right to the army officers to secure the presidential elections; however, Morsi is now doing the same thing.

Politicians in Egypt refused that the army would be part of the political conflicts, but it seems that Morsi insists to push the army to face the opposition in the streets. Liberals, leftists and other opposition parties called for demonstrations in all the Egyptian governorates today, while the Islamists called for two demonstrations in Cairo, so that they can show support for the President’s decisions and for the new constitution.

Morsi’s decision to make the referendum on December 15 without having a national dialogue, angered the opposition leaders, such as Mohamed Baradie, Hamdeen Sabahy and Amr Mousa. They insist on cancelling the referendum and re-creating a constitution committee that represent all Egyptians to write a new constitution, without domination from the Islamists on the committee’s decisions.

Furthermore, the Egyptian army is now securing the Presidential Palace, hoping to stop the protesters from getting near to it, but such trials failed in the last week’s demonstrations as the protesters made it through the fences and reached to the gates of the palace. Islamists such as Khayrat Al Shater and Hazem Salah Abu Ismaiel warned the protesters from getting near the palace and said they would go to the streets with thousands to protect the president and the palace. Such threats were said despite the protesters did not try to break into the palace in last week’s demonstrations and their peaceful attitude was seen all the time, except when the MB members attacked them and removed their tents near Ittihadya Palace.

The National Salvation Front is warning the Islamists from more clashes as it will lead to a civil war, while the president is ignoring the demands of Tahrir Square and calling all Egyptians to participate in the referendum next Saturday. The army said in a statement that all sides should have negotiations to avoid further troubles, but the opposition refused to meet President Morsi, and after Egyptians were killed on Wednesday, and they said that having a dialogue with the President should come after canceling the referendum.

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