Egypt votes overwhelmingly for new constitution

Egyptians who voted in a referendum overwhelmingly approved a new constitution, official sources said, citing early results of a ballot that could set the stage for army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to declare his candidacy for president.

About 90 percent of voters approved the constitution, the state news agency and a government official told Reuters.

It comes as no surprise: The constitution won wide support among Egyptians who backed the army overthrow of President Mohamed Morsi in July, and there was little or no trace of a no campaign.

Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood, which is seen as likely to dispute the official numbers, had called for a boycott of the two-day vote, seeing it as part of a coup against a leader freely elected 18 months ago. It had called for anti-government protests.

Nine people were killed in the latest clashes during protests between Morsi supporters and backers of the current Egyptian regime.

The Interior Ministry said 444 people were arrested during the two days of voting.

The referendum is a key step in the political transition plan the interim government has billed as a path to democracy, even as it cracks down on the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's best organized party until last year.

The authorities have also arrested secular-minded activists in recent months, including prominent figures in the historic 2011 uprising against President Hosni Mubarak, as well as journalists — including three from Al Jazeera and a freelancer working for The Associated Press.

The referendum has been seen as a public vote of confidence in Sisi, the 59-year-old widely seen as the most powerful figure in Egypt since he helped remove Morsi.

Sisi's supporters see him as the kind of strong man needed to restore stability to a country in political and economic crisis for nearly three years.

Some local and international organizations have been heavily critical of the political climate ahead of this vote.

The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies criticized Egyptian media for "stoking hatred towards the Brotherhood" and contributing to a climate of intimidation.

The U.S.-based Carter Center, which has monitored most of the votes held over the past three years of political upheaval, sent only a small observation mission after voicing concern at "narrowed political space" around the vote.

Republican Sen. John McCain told Al Jazeera that the constitution itself was a throwback to the Mubarak era, since it "places the military in a position where they decide their own budget, they decide who the minister of defense will be."

"That's not a real democracy," McCain said.

Al Jazeera and wire services