Will MPs be able to change parties in 2020 election?

CAIRO – 23 July 2018: The Parliament is expected to discuss during its fourth round a draft law that aims to amend the house’s electoral system ahead of the upcoming parliamentary election set to take place in 2020.

In May, Salah Fawzi, a professor of constitutional law at the Mansoura University and a member of the government's Legislative Reform Committee, called for cancelling article 6 of the law no.46 of 2014, which strips Parliament members of their legislative seats if they lose the conditions for membership on the basis of which they were elected.

According to the article, Parliament members who belong to a party will be stripped of their membership if they change their party or became independent, while independent members will be stripped of their membership if they join a party, after two thirds of the Parliament members at least vote in favor of dropping their memberships.

MP Ehab al-Tamawy, the Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee secretary, revealed that discussing the Parliament’s law comes with the aim of supporting the political life by reconsidering article no. 102 of the constitution regarding the house’s electoral system.

Tamawy said that there are many demands requested to bank on the block vote system which allowed its candidates to hold only about 120 seats of the current Parliament’s 596 seats in the 2015 election, based on law no. 46 of 2014.

Based on the block vote system, a party list should win at least half of the total votes to win all seats.

He said that the block vote system will establish democracy and improve political life, adding that people vote for the programs that work for the country’s benefit.

Tamawi said that some of the articles in the Parliament’s law written following the 2014 constitution are out of date, including the article defining the quota.

According to the 2014 law, there are four electoral lists that contain 120 people distributed as 45, 45, 15 and 15. In the 15-member lists for example, three members have to be Christian; and two others have to be workers or farmers. The list should also contain an Egyptian expatriate, an individual with special needs, and at least seven women.

On the other hand, independent MP and journalist Mostafa Bakri called for amending the law to grant equal number of seats for those elected through the single-member vote and through the block vote.

Bakri preferred not to give 75 percent of the seats to the block vote candidates, saying that the Parliament should encompass many parties, including a majority party or a majority coalition that incorporates a number of diverse parties.

According to the 2014 law, a number of 448 seats are given to candidates of the single-member vote system, in addition to 28 seats whose members are appointed by the president, representing about 80 percent of the Parliament members.

“Egypt Support” coalition’s ambitions

In April, members of Parliament’s majority “Support Egypt” coalition discussed with Parliament Speaker Ali Abdel Aal the possibility of merging all political parties of the coalition into a unified party.

In an interview with Egypt Today, MP Ali Abdel Wanis, member of the coalition, said that the idea aims to emulate parliaments around the world by forming a party that acts as a political backer of the state.

Abdel Wanis added that merging the parties of the coalition will help prevent contradictory opinions in case a certain party and the coalition hold different views.



Seemingly supporting the move, Abdel Aal said that the coalition meets all conditions that would make it a strong political party, adding that political life cannot be on the right track without a majority party.

However, it is likely that the pro-government parliamentary coalition will face a legal challenge if its leaders decide to merge parties under the current law. Abdel Wanis told Egypt Today that an amendment is required in order for the move to take place.

According to law, independent parliamentarians are not permitted to become party members during their term in office, and vice versa. In addition, a party member cannot change parties mid-term, said constitutional law professor Fathi Fekri to Masrawy.

A number of political parties of the coalition, which is comprised of about 10 political parties, and independent parliamentarians, opposed merging parties so as to form a unified political party, considering it illegal and diminishing the identity of different parties.

The Support Egypt coalition was formed in late 2015 by former-General Sameh Seif el-Yazal. Parties of the coalition include the Free Egyptians, Future of a Nation, Homeland Defenders, Republican Peoples and Conference parties.

Beyond legal obstacles

In May, a total of 51 parliamentarians who were members of the liberal Free Egyptians party reportedly signed a membership form with the Future of a Nation party, despite legal obstacles.

Essam Khalil, chairman of Free Egyptians party accepted the resignation of party member, MP Sami Ramadan, who announced his resignation in a telephone interview with Ahmed Moussa on Sada Al-Balad.



Khalil said that the party does not stand against the political ambitions of its members. However, he affirmed that the party will not accept back the members who decided to leave.