The Freedom and Justice Party officially announced on Wednesday that it would boycott the upcoming constitutional referendum. In a statement, the Muslim Brotherhood's political party said it would boycott the "fake referendum" on the "illegitimate" proposed amended constitution, saying the "military coup distorted the legitimate constitution, approved by the people with a two thirds majority." The party accused those who drafted the document of "wanting to protect murderers and appoint one of them President of Egypt" while adding that the current government was repressing Egyptians to coerce them into approving the constitution. "The FJP's boycott of the fake vote will be accompanied with continued escalation of peaceful revolutionary actions," read Wednesday's statement, also saying that the people have "experienced no positive change or improvement under the coup." The Anti-Coup Alliance, a coalition backed by groups including the Muslim Brotherhood, announced it would protest on Friday under the banner "our constitution 2012" in reference to the suspended constitution that was passed last year during ousted president Mohamed Morsi's tenure. Earlier this week the alliance announced that it too would boycott the referendum, scheduled to take place on 14 and 15 January. In a Thursday statement the group said "participation in the referendum betrayed the martyrs [of the revolution]" and urged Egyptians to "defend the legitimate constitution." On Wednesday evening the Salafi Al-Nour Party held a conference in Alexandria supporting the proposed amended constitution. In an address at the conference senior member Abdallah Badran said his party had made the decision after private and public deliberations and said Al-Nour Party's participation was aimed "to create a stable environment for the people where there is security and peace of mind" and added that the constitution maintained Egypt's "Islamic identity." Islamist Al-Wasat Party earlier this week also announced a boycott of the referendum, while former presidential candidate Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh's Misr Al-Qawia Party previously said it would vote "no" to the proposed constitution in the referendum.
