The Foreign Ministry refuted rumors that Egyptians were banned from voting in the current public referendum on the new constitution in some embassies and consulates abroad.

The false claims surfaced days even before the start of the vote for Egyptian expatriates, said Foreign Ministry Spokesman Amr Roshdi.

Among the rumors that 200,000 ballot cards were printed to rig the vote in Kuwait, although the total number of registered voters in the Gulf country does not exceed 60,000, Roshdi said.

Some rumors are even hard to believe like the one alleging that the Egyptian embassy in Sweden has been receiving the votes over the phone, he said.

He also denied that the embassy in Riyadh had printed pamphlets to urge the citizens to vote "yes" on the new constitution.

Some groups, with no connection at all with the embassy, have used its logo on pro-constitution flyers and distributed them, he said.

The Foreign Ministry and embassy had denied any connection with those leaflets.

The Foreign Ministry is a national institution and would never take sides with any political group, he noted.