Exceptional turnout for Egypt referendum on constitutional reforms

The referendum was marred by an attack on the Nobel Peace Prize winner and opposition figure, Mohamed ElBaradei.

A crowd of angry youths pushed and threw rocks at the former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency as he tried to vote in Cairo.

"I went to vote with my family and I was attacked by organised thugs," ElBaradei wrote on Twitter. "Top figures of Mubarak's regime still at large and undermining the revolution."

Despite this, the atmosphere at most polling stations was cheerful.

The BBC reports how more than 2,000 people are standing in an orderly line waiting to vote in the well-off neighbourhood of Zamalek. It is taking up to three hours to get to the front of the queue and it is a hot day, but still, spirits are high.

"I am so excited," says Nermeen Badayr, 53. "Last night I prepared my clothes like a child going to school on the first day. This is the first time I have ever voted in Egypt. I didn't care who was winning and losing in elections before as it was all pre-prepared."

Volunteers help the elderly into the polling station at a government school and there are many spontaneous signs of camaraderie.

The referendum reportedly produced something most Egyptians had never seen before - people queuing patiently for hours in lines that ran around the block to cast their ballots.

Under former President Mubarak, elections were stage-managed affairs with pre-determined results and turn out was very low, the BBC says.

If approved, the constitutional changes would pave the way for Egypt to hold new presidential and parliamentary elections within six months.

The country's two main political groups, Mubarak's National Democratic Party and the Muslim Brotherhood, backed the proposals.

But pro-democracy activists said the changes did not go far enough and wanted the plan rejected. They said the constitution needed to be entirely rewritten before elections could be held.

"It doesn't talk about the imperial power of the president, it doesn't talk about the distortion of the parliament, it doesn't talk about the need to have an independent constituent assembly that represents everybody."

Mubarak stood down in February after 18 days of popular protests, largely centred on Cairo's Tahrir Square.

Crowds of activists once again crammed Tahrir Square on Friday, this time to protest against the referendum.