Expats in 4 states excluded from Egyptian Senate vote due to instability

CAIRO – 19 July 2020: The National Election Authority, which is in charge of supervising the electoral process in Egypt, has excluded expats in Libya, Syria, Yemen, and Somalia from voting in the August Senate elections, due to unstable conditions of these states.

This comes as head of the NEA Lasheen Ibrahim said on Sunday elections will be held on Sunday, August 9 and Monday, August 10 for Egyptians residing outside Egypt, while locals will cast their ballot on Tuesday, August 11 and Wednesday, August 12.

The results of the first round will be announced no later than August 19.

The run-off will be held on September 6-7 for expats and on September 8-9 for locals. The final results shall be released on September 16.

The electoral committees have closed their doors Saturday in the eighth and last day for receiving candidacy requests of Senate candidates, Ibrahim said.

Ibrahim said 912 candidates have submitted their papers for the coming elections.

The authority is expected to announce the preliminary list of candidates along with their election symbols in a couple of widely circulated newspapers on Sunday.

Egyptian House approves amendments to National Election Authority law

CAIRO - 15 June 2020: The Egyptian House of Representatives, the lower house of the Parliament, on Wednesday approved an amendment to Law no. 198 of 2017 on the National Election Authority (NEA), which is in charge of supervising the electoral process in the northeastern African country.

Ibrahim urged all parties participating in the election to adhere to all precautionary measures to curb the novel coronavirus outbreak.

The NEA issued a decision on the formation of committees to follow up on the election and report any campaigning violations nationwide.

The NEA detailed that such violations include bullying, the use of religious or discrimination symbols, or worshipping places in the campaigning and posing threats to national unity, among others.

The member of the National Elections Committee, Khaled Eraq, said that the committee has taken several measures to complete the course of the Senate elections process in light of the challenges facing Egypt, especially with the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Eraq confirmed that the voter database contains approximately 63 million eligible voters in Senate election.

A member of the National Committee added, during the workshop organized by the National Press Authority (NPA) on Saturday on Senate election, that the authority increased the number of polling stations due to the Coronavirus pandemic by about 17,000.

Senate’s authorities

Egypt’s House of Representatives approved officially, a bill on establishing the Senate, during a Wednesday general session.

The draft law submitted by MP Abdel Hadi al-Qasabi, head of Support Egypt Coalition, was approved by nearly two-thirds majority of members of Parliament, while only four MPs refused it.

According to the passed bill the Senate will be made up of 300 members, with one third to be elected through the individual system, the second third through the closed list system, and the last third to be named by the president.

According to the bill, at least 10 percent of the Senate seats should be occupied by women, and there will be 27 constituencies for the individual system, and four constituencies for the closed list system.

The draft law, specified that 27 electoral constituencies will be allocated for election in the individual system, 4 constituencies for election in the lists system in which only two of them will have up to 15 seats each and the other two will have 35 seats each.

The draft law requires that each electoral list to include number of candidates equal to the number required to be elected in the electoral district along with another number of standby candidates equal to it.

It was also explained that, each list of 15 seats, must include at least three women, and each list of 35 seats must include at least seven women.

The senator's term of office will be five years and it will start as of the first meeting of the Senate.

A Senate candidate, according to the bill, should be of Egyptian nationality and should have performed the military service and enjoy full political and civil rights and have a university degree.

The Senate will be tasked with making suggestions on how to promote democracy and social peace, as well as maintaining values and freedoms in the society.

It will also give its opinion on suggestions to amend the constitution, the draft national plan for social and economic development, and peace and alliance conventions.

The president may also seek the opinion of the Senate on issues related to the State's general policy and its Arab and foreign affairs.