Officials count ballots after polls closed during the final stage of a referendum on Egypt’s new constitution in Cairo yesterday.Reuters/CairoEgyptians overwhelmingly approved a new constitution by referendum, state media reported yesterday, a widely expected outcome that nudges army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ever closer to a bid for the presidency.The vote advances a transition plan the military-backed government unveiled after deposing Islamist president Mohamed Mursi last July following mass unrest over his rule.The constitution won wide support among the many Egyptians who favoured Mursi’s removal. The Muslim Brotherhood had called for a boycott, saying the vote was part of a coup that deposed an elected leader and revived a brutal police state.But the vote was also a sign of widespread yearning for a return to stability after almost three years of violent disorder that has crippled the economy, impoverishing many.The next step is expected to be a presidential election for which Sisi - wildly popular among his supporters - appears the only serious candidate. He has yet to declare he will run.Around 90% of the people who voted approved the constitution, state-run media reported. Al-Ahram, the state’s flagship newspaper, said the constitution was approved by an “unprecedented majority”, citing early results.The authorities, who have billed the transition plan as a path to democracy, have also jailed leading Islamists and, in recent weeks, secular-minded activists, including prominent figures in the 2011 uprising against Hosni Mubarak.