Egypt opposition claims victory in constitution poll

National Salvation Front rejects figures claiming majority voted 'Yes' in first phase of constitutional referendum, says 66 pct voted 'No', alleges 'unprecedented rigging'

Sixty-six per cent of Egyptians voted 'No' in the first phase of the country's constitutional referendum, the opposition National Salvation Front has claimed
This conflicts with a source from the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) who told Reuters that Egyptians had voted 'Yes' by a small margin. After 99 per cent of the votes had been counted, 56.5 per cent were 'Yes' votes, he said.
The front said it had detected “unprecedented rigging,” including 750 violations across all ten governorates participating in the first phase of the poll.
According to the front, Cairo had the most violations with 374, followed by Alexandria with 105, El-Sharqiya 75, Gharbiya 67, Daqahliya 55, Assiut 23, Sohag 19, Aswan 17, North Sinai 11, and South Sinai 3.
Violations included unstamped voting papers, the names of deceased persons on voting lists, the absence of observers at polling stations, and delays in opening polling stations.
The front also claimed they had detected at least 120 'fake' judges supervising the poll.
The Morsi regime was surprised by the opposition turnout, the front added.
“The voter turnout no doubt exceeded their expectations,” the front said. “They thought we would boycott but our participation has scared them.”
The front also accused the regime of depriving the Egyptian people of a referendum properly supervised by judges because it went ahead with the poll even though many judges had refused to participate.