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Wednesday, 24 April 2019

Referendum results, turnout, women quota all get airtime on Egypt’s airwaves

Yesterday’s referendum results — which we recap in full in this morning's Speed Round, below — were the topic of the night on the nation’s airwaves. Al Hayah Al Youm broadcast National Elections Authority Chairman Lashin Ibrahim’s final announcement (watch, runtime: 2:31).

Voter turnout rate was higher than in both the 2012 (32.9%) and 2014 (38.6%) constitutional referendums, Youm7 Managing Editor Mahmoud Saad El Din told Al Hayah Al Youm’s Khaled Abou Bakr (watch, runtime: 2:15). Saad El Din took pains to note that the number of valid votes cast this week was higher than in the 2018 presidential race.

Women deserve their quota: Abu Bakr’s co-host, Lobna Assal, interviewed the National Council for Women’s Rania Yehia, who talked up the role of women in the referendum. The host also welcomed the new 25% quota for women in the House of Representatives introduced by the changes (watch, runtime: 38:31). Al Siyasa Al Dawliya Editor-in-Chief Ahmed Nagy then chimed in to laud the role of women in Egyptian society (watch, runtime: 1:37). Nagy also noted that 2019 marks the 100th anniversary of a women’s empowerment movement in Egypt sparked by the 1919 revolution.

An infographic released by cabinet yesterday that recapped Egypt’s recent credit rating upgrade by Fitch Ratings and Moody’s also got some air time on Al Hayah Al Youm. Both agencies gave the country props (tap or click here for Moody’s graphic or here for Fitch). Hona Al Asema’s Lama Gebreil phoned Egyptian Center for Economic Studies director Abdel Moneim El Sayed for his two cents (watch, runtime: 5:23).

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