Parliament’s Constitutional, Legislative Affairs Committee ratifies draft on House Act

CAIRO - 8 June 2020: The Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee in the House of Representatives approved Monday a draft law submitted by MP Abdel Hadi al-Qasabi, head of Support Egypt Coalition, regarding amending Law No. 45 of 2014 regulating the exercise of political rights.

The first article of the draft law amends Article 54 in the fourth paragraph of Law No. 45 of 2014 on the organization for obligatory grievance from polling procedures, to stipulate that “The National Elections Authority shall issue its decision on grievances no later than twenty-four hours from the date of the presentation, taking into account the reconciliation of justice and legitimacy, along with the requirements of impartiality regarding the polling and counting processes.”

As for the second article, it stipulates the replacement of the text number 1, 3, 4, 5, 8, as well as clause 6, and 10, the second and fourth paragraphs, text number 11 of the second paragraph, 17 of the first paragraph, 18 of the first paragraph, 31 of the first paragraph, 32 of the second paragraph, 45 of the first paragraph and text number 51) of the Parliament’s Law No. 46 of 2014.

The amended Article number 1 stipulated that the House of Representatives consists of 568 members who are elected by direct, secret public ballot, provided that at least 25 percent of the total number of seats are allocated to women, and the President of the Republic may appoint a number of members in the House of Representatives, which doesn’t exceed 5 percent. And, all of that comes in accordance with the terms stipulated in the law.

Article (3) stipulates that the elections of the House of Representatives are for 284 seats by the ‘individual system’, and 284 seats by the system of ‘absolute-closed lists’. Parties and independent individuals have the right to run in each system instead of 240 seats in the individual system and 120 seats in the system of ‘closed lists’ based on the existing law.

Article (4) organizes the division of districts in Egypt. It stipulates that Egypt is divided into a number of districts, some of which to apply the ‘individual system’ during elections and four districts apply the ‘lists system.’ Of the four districts, two will have about 42 seats each. And the last two districts are allocated 100 seats each.

Another specific law will define and determine the scope of each electoral district and the number of seats allocated for each governorate, as a certain number of members will be elected to the Parliament to represent each district to be proportional to the number of the district's residents and voters.

On June 8, the Legislative Committee met in the House of Representatives to discuss Al-Qasabi draft law.

On June 7, the Parliament’s Legislative Committee gave a preliminary approval on a draft law on the formation of the country’s reinstated Senate, in accordance with the 2019 constitutional amendments.

The approval came after the draft law has been widely hailed by the committee’s members, who affirmed that it complies with the constitutional articles in light of the latest amendments.

MP Saeed al-Aboudi described this day as “historical” due to Sunday’s vote on the draft law. MP Sami Ramadan says the formation of the upper house of the Parliament will contribute to achieving the public interest.

The Senate shall be concerned with studying and proposing what it sees as a tool to consolidate democracy, support national unity, social peace, the basic values of society, supreme values, rights, freedoms and public duties, and deepen and expand the democratic system, according to the Constitution.

"The latest amendments of the draft law on the Senate and the House have fulfilled all constitutional conditions and legal standards," said Parliament Member Abdel Hady al-Qassabi, the head of the coalition.

Egyptian Parliament's legislative committee approves draft law on Senate

CAIRO - 7 June 2020: The Egyptian Parliament's legislative committee on Sunday gave a preliminary approval on a draft law on the formation of the country's reinstated Senate, in accordance with the 2019 constitutional amendments. The approval came after the draft law has been widely hailed by the committee's members, who affirmed that it complies with the constitutional articles in light of the latest amendments.