The 15 December voting in Egypt in the first leg of a referendum on the new constitution passed smoothly with no serious incident reported from anywhere. The ballot took place in Cairo, Alexandria and eight other provinces, a week before the rest of the country. Voting was extended up to 23:00 (21:00 GMT) because of the high turnout. Some 250,000 security personnel were deployed to safeguard a referendum in which more than 51 million people are registered to vote.
Karem Radwan, head of the Muslim Brotherhood administrative office in central and south Cairo, congratulated the masses of Egyptian people who positively participated in the referendum. He stressed that the preliminary results indicate a definite “Yes” vote. Radwan pointed that the Egyptian people are still making history, with the highest rates of progress and awareness of the real situation in their homeland, and that they still strive for the advancement of their homeland without further delay.