CAIRO: Egypt’s electoral commission confirmed that the controversial, Islamist-backed constitution was passed by 64 percent of voters, rejecting opposition allegations of polling fraud.

The official results tallied with figures given by President Mohamed Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood immediately after the last round of polling over the weekend in the two-stage referendum. Turnout, however, was barely 33 percent.

Samir Abul Maati, president of the national electoral commission, told a Cairo news conference that a total of 63.8 percent of valid ballots supported the new constitution. Turnout was 32.9 percent.

Opposition allegations of fake judges supervising some of the polling were unfounded, he said, though adding that results from a few polling stations were annulled because they had closed early.

The opposition has seized on irregularities and the low turnout to challenge the legitimacy of the charter. The opposition argues that the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafist groups want to use some of the charter’s ambiguous language to slip in sharia-style strict Islamic law.

“There is no loser in this referendum result. This constitution will be for all of us,” Prime Minister Hisham Qandil said in a statement. He also called on “all political forces to cooperate with the government” to restore the economy.

But the opposition reiterated its rejection of the result. The main opposition coalition has already dismissed the plebiscite as “only one battle” and vowed to “continue the fight for the Egyptian people.”

“The law will take its course after the official complaints we have made to the prosecution service over violations and fraud that have been noted,” National Salvation Front spokesman Khaled Daoud said.

That sets the scene for continued instability after more than a month of protests, including clashes on December 5 that killed eight people and injured hundreds.

Front leader Mohamed ElBaradei, a Nobel Peace laureate and former chief of the United Nations (UN) atomic energy agency, however, conceded that the referendum was going to pass.

ElBaradei said the new charter should be treated as an “interim one” until another is written up on the basis of consensus.

Washington called on Morsi to work to “bridge divisions,” while European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton took note of both the majority backing the constitution and the low turnout.

Egypt’s Communications Minister Hany Mahmoud announced his resignation on Tuesday, following in the footsteps of Vice President Mahmud Mekki.

There have also been conflicting reports on whether central bank governor Faruq el Okda has stepped down, while the prosecutor general recently quit and then swiftly retracted his resignation.

“I quit for Egypt,” the official Mena news agency quoted Mahmoud as saying, though the precise motives for his decision were not spelt out. He apparently first tendered his resignation on November 22, the day Morsi announced sweeping new powers for himself.

Many creditors, investors and tourists have abandoned Egypt because of the volatility that has prevailed since the early 2011 revolution that toppled veteran leader Hosni Mubarak.

The International Monetary Fund this month put on hold a $4.8-billion loan Cairo needs to prevent a looming currency collapse.

Rating agency Standard and Poor’s has downgraded Egypt’s long-term credit rating one notch to “B-” because the “elevated” political tensions show no sign of abating.

Both the opposition and UN human rights chief Navi Pillay have criticized the text, written by a panel dominated by Islamists, for weakening women’s rights and other rights, including those of non-Muslims.

Attention now turns to legislative elections that must be held by the end of February. The constitutional court dissolved the previous parliament in June.