Cairo: Egyptians will begin casting votes on Sunday to elect their first parliament in more than three years amid expectations that loyalists of President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi will make massive gains.
Voters in 14 of Egypt’s 27 governorates, including the country’s second biggest city Alexandria, will cast their ballots on Sunday and Monday, marking the first phase of the long-delayed elections.
The second round of the elections will be held in the 13 other governorates, including Cairo, on November 22 and 23.
Eligible voters are estimated at 55.6 million, including 27.4 million in the first stage.
Around 5,420 candidates running as independents or on tickets of political parties are vying for the 568 seats in the assembly or the House of Representatives.
Al Sissi, who has been wielding legislative powers since becoming president last year, has the right to appoint 28 more members.
A controversial election law sets out 448 seats in the House — 80 per cent of the seats for which elections are held — for individuals, with the remaining 120 seats left for party-based lists. The system has drawn criticism from some quarters since it is seen as handing an advantage to wealthy contenders with wide patronage networks and strong family links.
Most candidates contesting the elections as independents or on party tickets openly support Al Sissi, giving the impression that the new House will be a rubber-stamp assembly.
For Love of Egypt, a pro-Al Sissi alliance of secular political parties, wealthy businessmen and former government officials, is anticipated to make the biggest gains.
Other groups, including the Salafist Al Nour Party, are also backers of Al Sissi, who as defence minister led the army’s 2013 overthrow of president Mohammad Mursi following enormous street protests against the Islamist leader’s rule.
Al Nour held a quarter of the seats in the 2011 parliament and was second only to Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood. The Constitutional Court later dissolved the Islamist-led legislature.
Egypt has since been without a parliament.
Al Nour, which backed Mursi’s removal, is the only Islamist group contesting the elections.
The Brotherhood is already designated as a terrorist organisation in Egypt. Its Islamist allies have announced a boycott of the vote, dismissing it as a sham.
Observers predicted a low turnout for the elections.
“These elections are mostly contested by political parties and independents who are closely linked to the ruling authority, including Al Nour,” said political analyst Amar Hassan.
“There is also a feeling of frustration that it [the election] will not lead to change. Egyptians vigorously participated in the polls held after the January revolution in the hope of seeing better changes at the economic, political and security levels,” Hassan wrote in the independent newspaper Al Watan, referring to the elections held after the 2011 uprising that forced long-time president Hosni Mubarak to step down.
“However, a category of Egyptians are now convinced that the situation has since remained the same, if not deteriorated,” Hassan said.
On Saturday, Al Sissi called on Egyptians to vote en masse. “I urge sons of the Egyptian people — men and women, youth and old people — to turn up and participate in the elections,” he said in a televised address.
The new parliament will have vast powers, including the right to impeach the president.
“I demand the armed forces and the interior ministry to take all necessary measures to secure elections,” Al Sissi said.
Around 415,000 army and police personnel will be deployed during the election process across Egypt, which has witnessed a spate of deadly militant attacks since the ouster of Mursi.
All what you need to know about the Egyptian parliament vote
- Every Egyptian aged 18 and above has the right to vote.
- Eligible Egyptian voters are estimated at 55.6 million.
- Number of candidates: 5,420 over two rounds of the elections.
- Voting dates: The elections will be held over two phases under full judicial supervision in Egypt’s 27 governorates.
The first phase is to be held on October 18-19 in 14 governorates: Giza, Fayoum, Beni Suef, Minya, Assiut, New Valley, Sohag, Qena, Luxor, Aswan, the Red Sea, Beheira, Alexandria, and Marsa Matrouh. In case of runs-offs, the vote will be held on October 27-28. Results of this stage will be announced on October 30
The second phase is scheduled for November 22-23 in the 13 governorates of Cairo, Qalioubiya, Daqahliya, Menufiya, Gharbiya, Kafr Al Shaikh, Sharqiya, Damietta, Port Saeed, Esmailia, Suez, North Sinai, and South Sinai. In case of runs-offs, the vote will be held on December 1-2. Results of this round will be announced on December 4.
- Parliament composition: The assembly will be made up of 596 members, including 568 elected lawmakers. Of these, 448 seats are allocated for independents and 120 to party-based lists. The president has the authority to appoint 28 members in the assembly.
A total of 286 seats will be up for grabs in the first stage of the voting: 226 seats for independents and 60 seats for the party-based tickets. A total of 282 seats will be contested in the second phase: 222 seats for independents and 60 seats for the party-based lists.
- Election system: Eighty per cent of the seats to which elections are held are designated for individual candidates and the remaining 20 per cent are reserved for political parties based on the winner-takes-all absolute list system. This set-up gives the party list, which wins at least 51 per cent of the vote in any electoral district, all the seats there.
Under this electoral system, Egypt’s 27 governorates are divided into four mega-constituencies for the party-based lists, two with 45 seats each and two with 15 each, totalling 120 seats.
The list system also includes quotas allocated by the 2014 constitution for under-represented categories. Each 15-candidate party list must include seven women, three from the minority Christians, two workers or farmers, two young people, one disabled candidate, and an Egyptian staying abroad. Thus the 120 elected parliamentary seats comprise 56 for women, 24 for Christians, 16 for workers and farmers and eight each for the youth segment, expatriates and the disabled.
- Key contenders:
For love of Egypt: A coalition of secular parties, former government officials and affluent businessmen known for their loyalty to President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi. The bloc, led by former intelligence officer Sameh Saif Al Yazal, is seen as the front-runner in the election. The alliance has already won 15 parliamentary seats unopposed in the Eastern Delta constituency after no other political parties fielded contenders there.
Egypt Call: An alliance of secular political parties mostly linked to the regime of ousted president Hosni Mubarak.
The Egypt Front and Independence Current: A bloc composed of pro-Al Sissi parties opposed to the Islamists.
The Salafist Al Nour Party: An ultra-conservative party, which backed the army’s 2013 toppling of president Mohammad Mursi following enormous street protests against his one-year rule. Al Nour is the only Islamist group contesting parliamentary elections as the Muslim Brotherhood is banned and other Islamist groups have announced a boycott of the vote. Al Nour has said that it has cut back on the number of candidates competing for individual and party-based parliament seats in a gesture to show that it does not seek to monopolise the legislature.
There have been increasing calls in Egypt demanding that Al Nour be disbanded, with those behind such campaigns saying it is based on religious lines in violation of the constitution. Several Christians are running on the tickets of Al Nour, which won 25 per cent of the seats in the 2011 Islamist-dominated legislature that was dissolved months later. Egypt has been since without a parliament.
- Powers of the new parliament:
The 2014 constitution, adopted after Mursi’s ouster, grants the legislature, officially called the House of Representatives, unprecedented powers such as impeaching the president and suggesting early presidential election with the backing of two-thirds of the members. The assembly has a say in naming the prime minister and the government.
