Egypt to vote on extending President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi's term on April 20-22,2019

Egypt will hold a three-day referendum starting on Saturday April 20,2019 over proposed constitutional changes that could allow President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to stay in power until 2030.

The ballot will run between April 20-22 and will also see voters decide on whether an upper parliamentary chamber should be created, Lasheen Ibrahim, the chairman of the National Election Authority, said in a statement on Wednesday April 17,2019

The announcement came a day after Egypt's parliament passed the proposed amendments, signing off on potentially extending Sisi's tenure until 2030 by permitting the general-turned-president to extend his current mandate by two years until 2024, and then stand for another six-year term

The 596-member assembly is packed with el-Sisi supporters, with 531 of the 554 legislators who attended the vote opting in favour of the constitutional changes

But critics have decried the proposals as another step back to authoritarianism, eight years after a pro-democracy uprising put an end to Hosni Mubarak's three-decade rule