An Egyptian soldier stands guard outside a polling site during a referendum on a disputed constitution drafted by Islamist supporters of President Mohammed Morsi in Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012. Egyptians were voting on Saturday on a proposed constitution that has polarized their nation, with Morsi and his Islamist supporters backing the charter, while liberals, moderate Muslims and Christians oppose it. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
An Egyptian soldier stands guard outside a polling site during a referendum on a disputed constitution drafted by Islamist supporters of President Mohammed Morsi in Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012. Egyptians were voting on Saturday on a proposed constitution that has polarized their nation, with Morsi and his Islamist supporters backing the charter, while liberals, moderate Muslims and Christians oppose it. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
An Egyptian woman arrives at a polling station to cast her vote in a referendum on a disputed constitution drafted by Islamist supporters of President Mohammed Morsi in Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012. Egyptians were voting on Saturday on a proposed constitution that has polarized their nation, with President Mohammed Morsi and his Islamist supporters backing the charter, while liberals, moderate Muslims and Christians oppose it. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
An Egyptian solider guards outside a polling station as people line up to cast their votes in a referendum on a disputed constitution drafted by Islamist supporters of President Mohammed Morsi, in Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012. Egyptians were voting on Saturday on a proposed constitution that has polarized their nation, with President Mohammed Morsi and his Islamist supporters backing the charter, while liberals, moderate Muslims and Christians oppose it. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
Egyptian women wait in line outside a polling station to cast their votes in a referendum on a disputed constitution drafted by Islamist supporters of President Mohammed Morsi in Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012. Egyptians were voting on Saturday on a proposed constitution that has polarized their nation, with Morsi and his Islamist supporters backing the charter, while liberals, moderate Muslims and Christians oppose it. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
Egyptian women wait in line outside a polling station to cast their votes during a referendum on a disputed constitution drafted by Islamist supporters of President Mohammed Morsi in Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012. Egyptians were voting on Saturday on a proposed constitution that has polarized their nation, with Morsi and his Islamist supporters backing the charter, while liberals, moderate Muslims and Christians oppose it. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
CAIRO (AP) ? Egyptians were voting Saturday on a proposed constitution that has polarized their nation, with President Mohammed Morsi and his Islamist supporters backing the charter, while liberals, secular Muslims and Christians oppose it.
With the nation divided by a political crisis defined by mass protests and deadly violence, the vote has turned into a dispute over whether Egypt should move toward a religious state under Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood and an ultraconservative Salafi bloc, or one that retains secular traditions and an Islamic character.
"The times of silence are over," said bank employee Essam el-Guindy as he waited to cast his ballot in Cairo's upscale Zamalek district. "I am not OK with the constitution. Morsi should not have let the country split like this."
El-Guindy was one of about 20 standing in a line for men waiting to vote. A separate women's line had twice as many people. Elsewhere in Cairo, hundreds of voters began queuing outside polling stations nearly two hours before the voting started at 8 a.m.
"I read parts of the constitution and saw no reason to vote against it," said Rania Wafik as she held her newborn baby while waiting in line. "We need to move on and I just see no reason to vote against the constitution."
Highlighting the tension in the run-up to the vote, nearly 120,000 army troops were deployed on Saturday to protect polling stations. A radical Islamist group also said it will send its own members to defend the stations alongside the army and police.
Clashes between Morsi's supporters and opponents over the past three weeks have left at least 10 people dead and about 1,000 wounded. "No, to the constitution of blood," said the red banner headline of the independent daily Al Masry Al Youm.
Critics are concerned about the charter's legitimacy after most judges said they would not supervise the vote. Rights groups have also warned of opportunities for widespread fraud, and the opposition says a decision to hold the vote on two separate days to make up for the shortage of judges leaves the door open for initial results to sway voter opinion.
Egypt has 51 million eligible voters, of whom about 26 are supposed to cast their ballots Saturday and the rest next week. Saturday's vote is held in 10 provinces, including Cairo and the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, the country's second largest and scene of violent clashes on Friday between opponents and supporters of Morsi.
Another newspaper, the pro-opposition al-Watan, published photographs of Morsi's supporters in Alexandria armed with knives, swords and sticks on the front page of its Saturday edition. "A referendum on their constitution," read the headline, alluding to the Islamists.
Egypt's latest crisis, the worst since longtime ruler Hosni Mubarak was ousted in a popular uprising nearly two years ago, began when Morsi issued a decree on Nov. 22 giving himself and the assembly writing the draft immunity from judicial oversight so the document could be finalized before an expected court ruling dissolving the panel.
On Nov.30, the document was passed by an assembly composed mostly of Islamists, in a marathon session despite a walkout by secular activists and Christians from the 100-member panel.
If the constitution is approved by a simple majority of voters, the Islamists empowered when Mubarak was ousted would gain even more clout. The current upper house of parliament, dominated by Islamists, would be given the authority to legislate until a new parliament is elected.
If the constitution is defeated, elections would be held within three months for a new panel to write a new constitution. In the meantime, legislative powers would remain with Morsi.
The opposition has called on its supporters to vote "no," while Morsi's supporters say the constitution will help end the political instability that has gripped Egypt since the autocratic Mubarak was overthrown. Clerics, from the pulpits of mosques, have defended the constitution as a document that champions Islam. Opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei wrote Saturday on his Twitter account: "Listen to your conscience and the voice of reason and say 'no.'"
Morsi's opponents say minority concerns have been ignored and the charter is full of obscurely worded clauses that could allow the ruling Islamists to restrict civil liberties, ignore women's rights and undermine labor unions.
"At one point in our history, Cleopatra, a woman, ruled Egypt. Now you have a constitution that makes women not even second-class but third-class citizens," said businesswoman Olivia Ghita. "This constitution is tailored for one specific group (the Muslim Brotherhood). It's a shame. I am very upset."
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