A Blog by the Editor of The Middle East Journal

Putting Middle Eastern Events in Cultural and Historical Context

Monday, March 21, 2011

The Referendum Results

I'll be posting more later about the Egyptian referendum (77% yes, about 22% no) but until I do I'd recommend Issandr El Amrani's take here and here.

And since, despite his base in Cairo, Issandr is a Moroccan-American, take a look at comments by Egyptian bloggers Zeinobia and Sandmonkey. All in English. I'll sample others later.

And note that many who voted no are still pleased. There were irregularities — the ancien regime has not been swept away entirely — but the results were credible, given that the military, the Muslim Brotherhood, the old guard and some at least of the young revolutionaries backed a yes vote. It may not have been a perfectly run elections (American critics: remember "hanging chads"? but it was probably the fairest in the living memory of most Egyptian voters, though not all will agree.

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