Cairo, Sept. 12: Egyptians have voted virtually unanimously in support of a new permanent constitution promising them full personal freedoms in a socialist society. The Interior Minister, Mr. Mamdouh Salem, announced that 7,862,617 people in yesterday’s referendum said ‘yes’ to the country’s first permanent constitution since the monarchist laws of the late King Farouk. This represented a percentage of 99.98. Votes against were 1,363, he said. The referendum was the second in Egypt in less than two weeks. An equally massive majority — 99.96 per cent — gave their approval in the earlier vote to Egypt’s joining a new tripartite federation with Libya and Syria. The Constitution contains 193 Articles and is Mr. Sadat’s major move at internal reform after taking over from the late President Nasser. It takes effect a few days before the first anniversary of Mr. Nasser’s death on Sept. 28. Following the referendum, the Cabinet of Prime Minister Mahmoud Fazwi resigned to-night and the Middle East News Agency said that President Anwar Sadat asked Mr. Fazwi to form a new Government.
