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1956 Egyptian referendum

Referendums on presidency and constitution

Field	Value
country	Egypt
election_date	23 June 1956
registered	5,859,000
turnout	94.01%
module	{{Infobox election
embed	yes
election_name	Nasser for president
type	Presidential
next_election	1958 Egyptian United Arab Republic referendum
next_year	1958
image1	Nasser 1961.jpg
nominee1	Gamal Abdel Nasser
party1	Liberation Rally
popular_vote1	5,499,555
percentage1	99.90%
title	President
before_election	Gamal Abdel Nasser (as Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council)
before_party	Liberation Rally
after_election	Gamal Abdel Nasser
after_party	Liberation Rally
flag_year	1922

A double referendum was held in Egypt on 23 June 1956. The two issues were the candidacy of Gamal Abdel Nasser for the presidency and a new constitution. Both were approved, with the official figures showing 99.9% in favour of Nasser's candidacy and 99.8% in favour of the constitution.

Background

Before the vote, Nasser had been consolidating power after ousting Muhammad Naguib and launching a massive crackdown against the Muslim Brotherhood in 1954. Other opposition forces had been previously outflanked by the Liberation Rally, the official political movement of the state set up by the Revolutionary Command Council following the abolition of political parties in 1953. The Liberation Rally's purpose was to acquire mass support for the RCC across the country The press also endorsed and urged support for the referendums. Another chief contributor to Nasser's growing legitimacy was his charisma. The incumbent government chose a constitutional committee to pen the new constitution, although its members were picked by Nasser himself.

Results

The referendums were overwhelmingly supported by the electorate. According to government tallies, Nasser's bid for the presidency and the proposed constitution received almost unanimous approval by voters. Nasser ran uncontested, nominated by the new ruling party, the National Union. Historian Kirk J. Beatie wrote the government figures were likely fictitious, but it is also "impossible to know how accurate they were." Nasser successfully used the vote to promote himself as the protector of democracy, but according to author May Kassem, the vote "was utilized in an authoritarian manner" that only served to consecrate Nasser's rule. The next year, the Liberation Rally was reorganized into the National Union (NU).

Nasser for President

New constitution

References

[https://books.google.com/books?id=0yN_dBBIxAwC&pg=PA67 ''Nasser's Egypt, Arab nationalism, and the United Arab Republic''] p67
[[Dieter Nohlen]], Michael Krennerich & Bernhard Thibaut (1999) ''Elections in Africa: A data handbook'', p340 {{ISBN. 0-19-829645-2
9781850432920
9780195361568
9781139464468
9780813384542
9780863722547

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

1956-referendums 1956-in-egypt referendums-in-egypt single-candidate-elections constitutional-referendums-in-egypt june-1956-in-africa

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