[4] The timetable established by interim president Adly Mansour envisioned a rapid transition, which initially entailed amending the suspended 2012 constitution.

[18] Khaled Ali, a former presidential candidate, was opposed to the constitution; he stated that it was "inappropriate" for Egypt.

[21] The Freedom and Justice Party and the Islamic Bloc, which had won 65.3% of the vote in Egypt's parliamentary elections in 2011–2012, opposed the new Constitution and the referendum as being the fruits of an illegal military coup.

[22] The Anti-Coup Alliance, which includes the Muslim Brotherhood-linked Freedom and Justice Party, announced on 22 December 2013 that it would boycott the vote.

[3] Tamarod,[27] the European Union[28] and 27,000 observers were expected to monitor the referendum; judges affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood were excluded from supervising polling stations.

[31] In the weeks before the voting there were massive arrests of persons opposing the Constitution or the referendum.

[32] Voter participation was about 38.6 percent according to Egyptian government figures that were challenged by the Muslim Brotherhood, which had called of a boycott because the vote was taking place after a military coup.

[33] For comparison, about 16.7 million voters participated in the vote approving the constitution drafted under Morsi.