Clusters of government employees trickling to polling stations in Egypt on Monday failed to mask widespread scepticism over a referendum expected to enshrine controversial changes to the constitution. In familiar scenes in a country where polling has been consistently marked by accusations of fraud and mass abstention, the first to show up at the ballot boxes were groups of government workers. “Of course I’ll vote for the amendments, were they not proposed by President Hosni Mubarak?” asked Said, a civil servant in his fifties heading to a polling station in downtown Cairo with his colleagues.
 An estimated 36 million registered voters were called to say yes or no to 34 constitutional amendments that were proposed by Mubarak and rushed through parliament only a week ago. The regime has billed them a major boost to democracy and security but the opposition, rights groups and observers have branded them an unprecedented setback for pluralism and basic freedoms. “The opposition opposes them because this is what the opposition does. The amendments are for the benefit of the people, they will help more of the country’s youth find jobs,” said Mohammed Abdel Hamid, a young employee of a government-run swimming pool. |