Instant View: Egyptians say "yes" in constitution vote

(Reuters) - A majority of Egyptians who voted in a referendum have backed constitutional changes that will allow Egypt's military rulers to move swiftly to elections.

Below are comments by analysts on what the result means:

DIAA RASHWAN, POLITICAL ANALYST

"The main fear is that it will be interpreted by some of the political forces that supported the referendum as a kind of support for their programs, I mean the Islamists."

"The reality is that the referendum was not about the constitutional amendments -- a high proportion of voters didn't read them -- it was about two ideas. One was 'stability or chaos' and the other was 'defending your religion'."

NABIL ABDEL FATTAH, AL-AHRAM Center FOR POLITICAL AND STRATEGIC STUDIES

The Muslim Brotherhood and remnants of Mubarak's old party "will benefit the most from having a short period before elections. Those groups are the ones who propagated in the past weeks the idea that changing some articles in the current constitution and not scrapping it and re-writing a new one would hasten the return of normal life and benefit the economy."

MUSTAPHA AL-SAYYID, POLITICAL SCIENCE UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR

"The vote coming out for a 'yes' does not mean that those who voted are all supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood group, who expressed views that they are 'pro' the proposed changes but are also people who oppose the adoption of a new constitution and do not want a long transitional period or to be ruled by the military for a long time and want stability."

JOSH STACHER, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL SCIENCE AT KENT STATE UNIVERSITY, OHIO

"This was a vote on stability and getting the country back onto a faster transition process: a desire to have a speedier rather than a drawn-out process. This is going to favor parties with established networks."

"It does favor the Brotherhood because, given their established networks, this will work favorably for their representation in parliament, it will also favor independents who were affiliated with the National Democratic Party."

(Reporting by Cairo bureau; Editing by Edmund Blair)