Egypt will hold a referendum on reforms to its constitution on March 19th, the government said on its Facebook page today, quoting the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.
Polling stations would be open to the public from 8am (6am Irish time) to 7 pm, it said.
Egypt's ruling military council, which has been governing the country since mass protests ousted president Hosni Mubarak on February 11th, has suspended the constitution and asked a committee of legal experts to propose changes to ensure fair elections and pave a road towards a democratic civil state.
The proposed amendments will reduce the length of a presidential term to four from six years and cap the number of terms any leader can serve in the post at two. Mr Mubarak was in his fifth, six-year term when he was forced from office.
The amendments will also guarantee judicial supervision of the election process - another major demand of reformists' groups who said the old system allowed major vote rigging.
The constitutional amendments were unveiled last Saturday by a 10-man judicial committee appointed by the ruling military council.
The proposed amendments have not faced major criticism, though many Egyptians believe the country is in need of an entirely new constitution - something the judicial committee said would be drawn up after elections.
State radio reported yesterday that all Egyptians over the age of 18 would be allowed to vote with their national IDs - a change from the previous system that required a special voting card that was hard to acquire.
Separately, Egypt's new prime minister-designate Essam Sharaf told thousands of protesters in Cairo today he would work to meet their demands and saluted the "martyrs" of the country's revolution.
Mr Sharaf, a former transport minister, was appointed by Egypt's military rulers yesterday to replace Ahmed Shafiq, the former air force officer who had been appointed by Hosni Mubarak before he was toppled from the presidency on February 11th.
Mr Sharaf told the crowd in the iconic Tahrir Square, the epicentre of the anti-Mubarak protests, that he had come "to draw legitimacy" from them. He was cheered and carried away from the podium on the shoulders of protesters, escorted by military police.
"I have been entrusted with a heavy mission and need patience, will and resolve," Mr Sharaf said.
"The mission that I am trying to realise, with all my heart, is your goals," he said, adding that the day when he could not realise them, he would join the protesters in the square.
"Take the oath, take the oath, take the oath," chanted the crowd, urging Mr Sharaf to take the oath of office in front of them. He declined to do so.
Reuters