Egyptian constitutional referendum, 2005

The 2005 Egyptian constitutional referendum took place in Egypt on 25 May 2005. The referendum was on a proposed change to the constitution of Egypt which would establish direct elections for the presidency. The opposition parties called for a boycott of the vote, which was passed by a large majority.

Under the existing constitution the Parliament of Egypt decided upon a candidate for president. That candidate was then confirmed by the people in a referendum. The incumbent president Hosni Mubarak was confirmed in four referendums in 1981, 1987, 1993 and 1999 receiving at least 95% supporting votes in each referendum. By 2005 international and domestic pressure grew for reforms to this process to permit direct elections for the presidency.

On the 26 February 2005 President Mubarak called on parliament to amend Article 76 of the constitution to allow multi candidate elections for president to take place in time for the presidential election due later in the year. This change would then be put to a referendum in May. On the 10 May the Parliament of Egypt overwhelmingly approved the change to the constitution by 405 votes to 34 and the referendum was set for the 25 May.

Egyptian voters were asked to vote on the question:

Do you agree to amending Article 76 of the Constitution of the Arab Republic of Egypt?

Opposition parties called on voters to boycott the referendum. They were opposed to the strict requirements that the amended constitution would require candidates to meet in order to be able to stand in presidential elections. Under the proposed amendment independent candidates would be required to get the support of 250 elected members of councils and parliament including 65 of the 444 members of the People's Assembly of Egypt in order to stand. Candidates from political parties could stand in the upcoming election in September, but for future presidential elections they would have to win 5% of the seats in the People's Assembly before being able to field a candidate. Political parties would also have to have existed for five years before they could put a candidate up for election. The councils and parliament were all dominated by members of the governing National Democratic Party and no other political party then met the 5% level. As a result, the opposition said that the changes would not allow candidates to stand unless the governing party permitted them to. As well as the legal opposition parties, the banned Muslim Brotherhood group also called on voters to boycott the vote, describing it as meaningless.

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