As voters take to streets to cast their vote in referendum and a bomb explodes outside a Cairo court, Richard Spencer explains what the ballot means for Egypt and its future.
Egyptians formed lines on Tuesday outside polling stations across much of the country to vote on a new constitution that represents a key milestone in a military-backed roadmap put in place after the ouster of Egypt's Islamist president in a coup last July.
The balloting deals a heavy blow to the Muslim Brotherhood's campaign for the reinstatement of ousted President Mohammed Morsi and paves the way for a likely presidential run by the nation's top general, Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi.
Shortly before polls opened, an explosive device went off outside a Cairo courthouse in the densely populated neighborhood of Imbaba. The blast damaged the building's front and shattered windows in nearby buildings but caused no casualties.
"The referendum is more than just a referendum on the constitution, it's a referendum on the roadmap for Egypt's future that has been laid down by the Army," Richard Spencer in Cairo says.
A comfortable "yes" vote and a respectable turnout would bestow legitimacy on the cascade of events that followed the coup while undermining the Islamists' argument that Morsi remains the nation's elected president.
Morsi's Brotherhood, which is now branded as a terrorist group, has called for a boycott of the vote.
The new charter, drafted by a liberal-dominated committee appointed by the military-backed government, would ban political parties based on religion, give women equal rights and protect the status of minority Christians.
But it also gives the military special status by allowing it to select its own candidate for the job of defence minister for the next eight years and empowering it to bring civilians before military tribunals.
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