Egyptians have been trickling in to vote in a referendum on constitutional amendments which would help the government exclude opposition groups from the political system.
Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president, said that the 34 amendments being voted on in Monday’s referendum are needed to maintain security.

Protesters on Sunday night demonstrated in Cairo against the proposed amendments [AFP]

Critics argue the changes - including a ban on all political parties based on religion and granting the police greater power - will turn the country into a police state.
All major opposition groups including the Muslim Brotherhood, which won one-fifth of the seats in parliament in 2005 elections, have told supporters to boycott the referendum, saying they cannot be sure the voting will be fair.

As polls prepared to close, Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna said from a station in Cairo: "At this polling station at least, there has been only a small trickle of people throughout the day.

"And this is an area which is one of the most densely populated in Cairo."

Small per centage

The ruling party has said that it estimates some 6 million people throughout the country have cast their ballots. This would be a per centage poll of just below 20.

The Hesham Mubarak Law Centre, an independent group co-ordinating monitors, said that in 13 provinces for which it has figures about 3 per cent of people had voted by 2:30pm (12:30 GMT), six and a half hours into the 11 hours of voting.

Hanna said: "The government has made absolutely clear that it will regard a majority ’yes’ vote as an endorsement of its constitutional ammendments, regardless of how many people actually vote."

The Egyptian government deployed thousands of extra security in Cairo on Monday ahead of the poll.

Four volunteers working for the opposition Ghad Party were detained outside a polling station in the Nile Delta province of Kafr el-Sheikh, the party and police sources said.

In Alexandria, some 300 activists, mostly members of the opposition movement Kefaya [Enough], protested with chants of "The amendments are invalid. Hosni Mubarak is invalid." Police watched from nearby but did not intervene.

The Muslim Brotherhood, the country’s largest opposition force, said the Arab world’s most populous nation faced a dark future if the changes win approval in the referendum.

"Everyone’s being beaten over the head," Brotherhood leader Mohamed Mahdi Akef, told Reuters. "They’ve killed off everyone’s hopes. Even those with a shred of hope had it killed off."

Monitors say the turnout in Egyptian referendums has traditionally been low but the authorities tilt the balance by busing civil servants and public-sector workers to the polling stations on supervised voting trips.

The government says the changes are part of a gradual political reform process, but the opposition and human rights group say they are a step away from freedom and democracy.

US criticism

The US has said it is "disappointed" that Egypt was not taking the lead in the Middle East on greater openness and pluralism but Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, visiting Egypt on Sunday, tempered her criticism.

"We recognise that states do this [political change] in their own way and that they do it in a way that is consistent with their own cultural circumstances," she said.

"It is not a matter to try to dictate to Egypt how this unfolds."

The US campaigned for democratic change in Egypt in 2005, but analysts say Washington has since lost interest because it needs help from conservative Arab governments, such as Egypt, in Iraq and in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Officials of the National Democratic party (NDP), the ruling part of Hosni Mubarak, the president, which has been in power in various guises for about 50 years, said they were aiming for a turnout of 25 per cent because of capacity limits at polling stations.

The authorities said the turnout at a similar constitutional referendum in 2005 was 54 per cent. Observers said the real figure was less than 10 per cent, possibly as low as five.

Mubarak ploy?

The amendments, which passed parliament one week ago after a secretive drafting process controlled by the NDP, target mainly the Brotherhood, a group which has built up strong support in Egyptian society since it was founded in 1928.

Under the amended constitution, Mubarak and the ruling party could dissolve the existing parliament and hold new elections under a new voting system which would make it more difficult for the Brotherhood to win seats.

The changes will enshrine in the constitution a ban on political activity or political parties with a religious basis or reference point.

Mubarak is seen as trying to install his
son as the next president [EPA]

Muslim Brotherhood leaders say the government’s aim is to push out the opposition and make it easier to install Mubarak’s son, Gamal, as the country’s next president.

Gamal Mubarak, who denies he has presidential ambitions, told a briefing on Sunday that he recognised the opposition.

"We are aware of the criticism and the scepticism," he said.

He denied that there was any link between the amendments and any plan to dissolve parliament.