NATIONAL REFERENDUM: OFFICIAL RESULTS RELEASED

CONFIDENTIAL C O N F I D E N T I A L CAIRO 000870 SIPDIS SIPDIS NSC FOR DORAN AND WATERS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/27/2017 TAGS: PGOV, PREL, KDEM, EG SUBJECT: NATIONAL REFERENDUM: OFFICIAL RESULTS RELEASED REF: CAIRO 866 Classified By: Counselor for Economic and Political Affairs Catherine Hill-Herndon, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 1. (SBU) On March 27, Minister of Justice Mamdouh Marei, in his capacity as head of the Egyptian Supreme Elections Commission, announced the official results of the March 26 national referendum on President Mubarak's constitutional amendments package. The government results are as follows: - 27.1 percent voter turnout (9.7 million voters, out of 35.8 million registered voters) - 75.9 percent voted in favor of the constitutional amendments (7.1 million) - 24.1 percent voted against the amendments (2.2 million) - 9.4 million valid votes, and 252,695 invalid votes 2. (C) Civil society groups that monitored the referendum are already crying foul at the government figures, considering them an "overblown exaggeration" of voter turnout (septel forthcoming on the views of independent monitors and NGO's on the voting). Per reftel, Embassy observation teams at polls around the country witnessed nowhere near 27.1 percent voter turnout. 3. (C) Comment: The Egyptian government is aiming for the perception of popular acceptance of the amendments package, but its hollow propaganda effort only further undermines the GOE's credibility. End comment. RICCIARDONE