Post-revolutions and revolutions sweeping the Arab world continue to capture the attention and imagination of Doaa El-Bey and Rasha Saad Newspapers hailed the referendum on constitutional amendments as a victory for democracy and free elections while writers looked at the powers that controlled the poll and its impact on the future of Egypt. Al-Ahram on Monday had, '77.2 per cent choose 'yes' and 22.8 per cent say no'. Al-Akhbar bannered '77.2 per cent say yes; constitutional declaration in few days to govern transitional period'. Al-Wafd headlined, 'Yes' clashes with 'No' and democracy is the only winner'. Al-Masry Al-Yom wrote, 'Yes came first; Egypt is the winner either way' and Nahdet Masr came out with '14 million yes, the highest turnout in the history of referendums'. Alaa Abdel-Hadi wrote that it was probably the first time in history that a yes or no vote in a referendum would lead to the same end. "Through the referendum, we laid the cornerstone for real democracy in which the decision is made via ballot boxes," Abdel-Hadi wrote in the official daily Al-Akhbar. It is the first time, he added, that those who said no accepted those who said yes which created a healthy political atmosphere. The referendum brought out the best of the 25 January Revolution as people stood in long queues to vote, when they believed that voting was important for the future of their state and when they gave up their passivity and indifference to whatever happens in their country. Fouad Badrawi wrote the Egyptians proved that they deserve democracy when they queued in front of voting centres in a civilised way that announced the fall of despotism and fraud. The previous regime, Badrawi added, claimed that Egyptians were not mature enough to practise democracy. But the people refuted the claim and rose on referendum day to express their opinion regardless of the results. "We should thoroughly analyse what happened on the day of the referendum. Egyptians broke their silence and had their say. I am sure the uprising will never recede after the return of the spirit to the people," Badrawi wrote in the daily Al-Wafd, the mouthpiece of the opposition Wafd Party. Mohamed El-Saadani described the scene of the referendum as spectacular because the silent majority decided to voice its opinion on the constitutional amendments. "History will record 19 March as the day of a fledgling and promising democracy in Egypt," El-Saadani wrote in the official daily Al-Ahram. However, he criticised the provocative and short-sighted vision of the Egyptian media which judged the votes. It claimed that whoever said yes to the constitutional amendments belongs to the Muslim Brotherhood or the National Democratic Party and whoever said no belongs to the revolutionists or the old and new political parties. It tried to circulate that yes would allow the Islamist power to assume authority in Egypt because they are the strongest and most organised party at present and are depriving the revolutionary power from authority. El-Saadani wondered why the media hailed Aboud El-Zomor and his brother who were released after serving their term for killing the former president Anwar El-Sadat. They are not Nelson Mandela after all, he added. He concluded by asking when the Egyptian media would understand the difference between its right to broadcast news and conduct propaganda for misleading and dangerous thoughts. Suleiman Gouda asked why the yes vote won in the referendum in spite of the fact that there are large sectors in society that rejected the constitutional amendments. While he ruled out election fraud, Gouda wrote that the referendum was controlled by various influences especially that of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Islamic trend in general. They made use of the mosques, Gouda explained, to incite people to say yes to constitutional amendments and distributed staple goods among poor families for the same purpose. However, he expected such influence to have more impact on the parliamentary elections. Thus, Gouda called on the ruling Higher Council of the Armed Forces to hold the presidential elections first in order to reduce such influence. In that case, the new president would be responsible for issuing a new constitution after which parliamentary elections could be held. That would give time for the complete return of security by the time the parliamentary elections are held, Gouda concluded in the independent daily Al-Masry Al-Yom. Mohamed El-Shabba wrote that two trends were fighting at the ballot boxes on referendum day; the first works to restructure the country so that it would be for all Egyptians and the second is trying to spread its religious thoughts and holy slogans to take the biggest piece of the cake in the coming phase. The 25 January Revolution witnessed a real challenge, El-Shabba added, as the second trend managed to persuade many simple citizens through religious slogans and the illusion of quick stability to say yes at the ballot box. However, the new Egypt that millions of Egyptians want needs hard work. It requires, El-Shabba wrote in the independent political daily Nahdet Masr, a revolution in every village and constituency, a drastic change in the millions who are being emotionally and religiously exploited in the interest of the old and the corrupt who will not give up easily and will fight till the end. The referendum was part of their fight. "The referendum was a venue to show power and get ready for the bigger fight, that of handing Egypt to its new rulers. That fight must start today and include each and every place in Egypt," El-Shabba summed up. Millions of Egyptians celebrated Mothers Day this week only two days after the referendum. The spirit of the referendum seemed to imbue the occasion with even more meaning than usual. Gamal Hussein expressed joy that he lived to witness the referendum when millions of Egyptians flocked to say their opinion freely. "I was happy to stand in the queue for half an hour, to see the prime minister take permission from the people to jump the queue and the governor of Egypt given a harsh lesson by the voters for trying to jump the queue," Hussein wrote in Al-Akhbar.
