A double referendum was held in Egypt on 23 June 1956. The two issues were the candidacy of

Gamal Abdel Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein, . (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian politician who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 and introduced far-re ...

for the post of president, and a new constitution.Nasser's Egypt, Arab nationalism, and the United Arab Republic
p67 Both were approved, with the official figures showing 99.9% in favour of Nasser's candidacy and 99.8% in favour of the constitution.

Background

Prior to the vote, Nasser had been consolidating power after ousting Muhammad Naguib and launching a massive crackdown against the

Muslim Brotherhood The Society of the Muslim Brothers ( ar, جماعة الإخوان المسلمين'' ''), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood ( ', is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan ...

in 1954. Other opposition forces had been previously outflanked by the Liberation Rally, the official political movement of the state set up by the Revolutionary Command Council following the abolition of political parties in 1953. The Liberation Rally's purpose was to acquire mass support for the RCC across the country and was reorganized into the National Union (NU) in 1956.Brownlee, Jason. (2007
Authoritarianism in an Age of Democratization
Cambridge University Press. The press also endorsed and urged support for the referendums.Beinin, Joel. (1990)
Was the Red Flag Flying There?: Marxist Politics and the Arab-Israeli Conflict
I.B. Tauris. p. 165. Another chief contributor to Nasser's growing legitimacy was his personal charisma. The NU chose a constitutional committee to pen the new constitution, although its members were picked by Nasser himself.Gordon, Joel. (1991)
Nasser's Blessed Movement: Egypt's Free Officers and the July Revolution
Oxford University Press. p. 189.

Results

The referendums were overwhelmingly supported by the electorate. According to government tallies, Nasser's bid for the presidency and the proposed constitution received almost unanimous approval by voters. Nasser ran uncontested, nominated by the new ruling party, the National Union. Historian Kirk J. Beatie wrote the government figures were likely fictitious, but it is also "impossible to know how accurate they were."Beattie, Kirk J. (1994)
Egypt During the Nasser Years: Ideology, Politics and Civil Society
Westview Press. p. 124. Nasser successfully used the vote to promote himself as the protector of democracy, but according to author May Kassem, the vote "was utilized in an authoritarian manner" that only served to consecrate Nasser's rule.Kassem, May. (1999)
In the Guise of Democracy: Governance in Contemporary Egypt
Garnet & Ithaca Press. p. 32.

Nasser for President

New constitution

References

{{Egyptian elections Egypt Referendum Referendums in Egypt Single-candidate elections Constitutional referendums in Egypt Egypt