Egypt Votes on Constitution as Violence Highlights Divide

Egyptians queued to vote on a new constitution Tuesday amid high security, in a referendum likely to launch a presidential bid by the army chief who overthrew Islamist president Mohammed Morsi.

Polling at most stations got off to a smooth start, but five people were killed in clashes between Morsi supporters and police and anti-Morsi groups in central and southern Egypt, security officials said.

The violence highlighted the government's precarious grip on the most populous Arab country, still reeling from Morsi's ouster and a bloody crackdown on his supporters.

An Islamist coalition led by the former president's Muslim Brotherhood had urged protests and a boycott during the two-day vote.

A small bomb exploded without causing injuries outside a Cairo court shortly before polls opened in the morning, as hundreds of thousands of soldiers and police deployed to guard polling stations.

The interior ministry had pledged to confront attempts to disrupt voting.

Defense minister Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the general who overthrew Morsi in July, visited a polling station at a north Cairo school after voting began to inspect security preparations.

"Work hard. We need the referendum to be completely secured," he told soldiers guarding the school.

The government hopes a large turnout in favor of the constitution will bolster its disputed authority, while Sisi will monitor it for an "indicator" of his popularity, an official close to the general said.

Interim president Adly Mansour urged voters to cast their ballots.

"The people must prove to dark terrorism that they fear nothing," he said after voting.

"The voting is not only for the constitution, but also for the roadmap, so the country can have an elected president and a parliament."

The referendum will be followed by parliamentary and presidential elections.

Security forces deployed in force across the country amid fears a spate of recent spate of militants attacks and protests would discourage voters.

At one station for women at a school, dozens queued to cast their ballots, some waving Egyptian flags and chanting pro-military slogans.

"We must be with our police and army so that no one can terrorize us. Even if a bomb exploded in my polling station, I would vote," said Salwa Abdel Fattah, a 50-year-old gynecologist.

It is unclear how many Egyptians will vote because of security worries, but the constitution appears certain to pass.

Charter bolsters army's powers

The charter has done away with much of the Islamist-inspired wording of Morsi's constitution, suspended on his overthrow, and its supporters say it expands women's rights and freedom of speech.

But it has bolstered the military's powers, granting the army the right to appoint the defense minister for the next eight years and to try civilians for attacks on the armed forces.

The runup to the vote was marred by a crackdown on Morsi's supporters and arrests of activists who campaigned for a "no" vote.

The capital has been festooned with banners urging Egyptians to vote "yes", often featuring military motifs such as a general's hat, an allusion to Sisi.

Many Islamists revile Sisi as the man who overthrew the country's first freely elected and civilian president, but the general is adored by the millions who took to the streets in July to demand Morsi's resignation.

He is widely expected to run for president, and has said he would stand if he felt there was "popular demand," state media reported this week.

The authorities are worried a low turnout would empower their Islamist opponents in Morsi's Brotherhood and cast further doubts over their legitimacy, analysts say.

"Prove to the world that what happened was a popular revolution," Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim said in a visit to a polling station, referring to Morsi's overthrow.

Backers of the constitution are hoping for at least a 70 percent vote in favor of the constitution as a satisfying majority.

Morsi's constitution passed with 64 percent of the vote, but on a turnout of barely 33 percent of the country's 53 million voters.

At least 1,000 people, mostly Islamists, have been killed in street clashes, and thousands have been imprisoned since the ouster of Morsi, whose supporters have kept up near-daily protests.