Cairo: Egyptians have started voting, a three day affair, on Saturaday for constitutional amendments aimed to extend President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi rule until 2030.
The opposition has urged Egyptians to say no to the extension. Egyptian lawmakers have overwhelmingly voted in favour of the extension and for granting sweeping power to Sissi. Critics say that if Sissi gets the extension the country will revert to authoratian rule once again.
Egyptians, buyoed by the Arab Spring movements that shook the Arab world in late 2010, forced the then ruler Hosni Mubarak to step down from his thirty year of Presidency. Muslim Brotherhood , with a view to capitalizing on the vacuum, floated a party and came to power but lost it on nationwide protests against its misrule after a year. After a brief spell , power went to military commander turned defence minister Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi in 2014 . Since then Sissi has effectively silenced the opposition. Now he wants to continue for another decade . Saturday's vote is about referendum on this .
If Egyptians vote in favour of Sissi's extension, Sissi will be somewhat like China's Xi Jinping who has become President for life.
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