CAIRO
First round of voting in a referendum on a draft constitution has started in Egypt on Saturday.
Egyptians are voting the draft constitution at 6,371 polling centers in Cairo, Alexandria and eight other provinces.
The voting began at 8:00 a.m.
25 million of 51.3 million voters will cast votes in the first round of polling.
130,000 police officers and 120,000 soldiers have taken security measures for the polling.
The voting will end at 7:00 p.m.
Second round of voting will take place on December 22.
-Egyptian journalist : ''it's better to say 'yes' rather than 'no' in referendum''
Egyptian journalist Fahmi Huwaidi said it was better to say 'yes' rather then 'no' in referendum.
Huwaidi told AA that saying yes or no to draft constitution meant choosing between bad and worse.
Noting that saying 'no' would escalate the disagreement between the groups, Huwaidi said that it was wrong to keep President Mohammad Morsi's constitutional arrangements responsible for the disagreements.
Huwaidi also called on opposition to undertake more responsibility.
He noted that referendum was an important step to restore stability in the country.
