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Officials join Egyptian public in constitutional referendum vote

Tuesday, January 14, 2014 - 01:19

Jan. 14 - Officials in Egypt's army-backed government head to the polls to vote in the country's constitutional referendum. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).

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ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION) Officials in Egypt joined the public Tuesday (January 14) to cast their votes in a constitutional referendum, the first ballot since the military overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Mursi in July. At a polling station in Cairo's Tagamu Khamis neighborhood, hundreds, including Amr Moussa -- the head of the committee responsible for drafting the new constitution -- lined up to vote on the new document. After casting his ballot in the referendum, Moussa defended the document against criticisms that it marginalized the Muslim Brotherhood. "The constitution excludes no one. It is the opposite of the 2012 constitution in that it does not exclude anyone, whether Muslim Brotherhood or otherwise. Every citizen has the same rights as any other," Moussa said. At a girl's primary school in Cairo, policemen and soldiers kept watch as voters lined up at a polling station. Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy was among the voters at the location. "The success of the constitution means success for Egypt. It means that we will begin a new stage in the political roadmap, and we hope that it means there will be no going back," Fahmy said. Few doubt that Egyptians, who staged mass protests against Mursi's rule before his ouster, will turn out in big numbers and vote "yes" in the two-day referendum, a milestone on the army-backed government's political road map.

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Officials join Egyptian public in constitutional referendum vote

Tuesday, January 14, 2014 - 01:19