The Muslim Brotherhood and the Anti-Coup Alliance reiterated their rejection of the constitutional referendum and participation in the poll that they deemed “illegitimate”.
Egyptians had participated in five elections and referendums following the revolution, and were negated after military leadership “broke the covenant” and “seized power”, said the Muslim Brotherhood in a Monday statement, one day before polls opened.
The Brotherhood listed its grievances against the interim government and the period following former president Mohamed Morsi’s ouster, saying Minister of Defence Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi had asked Egyptians for “authorisation” to “kill the Egyptian people in massacres and atrocities that could not be committed by a foreign occupation.”
It also decried what it called “an unprecedented collapse of the economy”. The group, which has suffered a severe security crackdown, also highlighted the killing of protesters and the shutting of Islamist media outlets.
The group also reiterated its condemnation of the freezing of assets of Islamic charity organisations, adding that the role of Christian charities in helping the poor was a “process that is extremely dangerous to Islam”.
The Brotherhood’s statement also criticised the proposed amended 2012 constitution, saying “the document has made the military institution a state above a state and above the people, and [has allowed it to] possess the country’s wealth.”
The group’s statement also condemned the lack of Islamic identity in the charter and its omission of an article criminilising insulting the prophet and his messengers, along with leaving out aspects of Sharia Law that had been included in the previous draft.
“Has any constitution been passed in a referendum under arms and armoured vehicles?” said the MB-issued statement, which criticised the heavy army and police security presence across the country on Tuesday around polling stations.
The Brotherhood also said EU High Representative Catherine Ashton had recommended that the Anti-Coup Alliance support participation in the referendum and campaign for a No vote. It said it rejected the call, saying it would not participate in the referendum and would not help “portray queues of citizens”.
The Anti-Coup Alliance, which is backed by the Brotherhood and other Morsi-supporting groups, said it would carry out demonstrations on Tuesday against the “sham referendum”. Earlier this week the alliance called the current leadership “agents of the Zionist entity and the US” and repeated its support for a boycott, calling on its supporters to “fail the false vote”.
A senior member of the alliance, Reda Fahmy, said that his group would not negotiate with government leadership in a statement issued by the Anti-Coup Alliance.
The Muslim Brotherhood has continued expressing its rejection of steps taken following Morsi’s ouster in July and has considered the steps following the change in power illegitimate.
