Candidacy door to Egypt’s parliamentary elections closes Saturday

CAIRO – 26 September 2020: The National Election Authority (NEA) closed on Saturday the candidacy door for parliamentary elections, with the names of the candidates to be announced Sunday.

Committees tasked with checking the candidacy papers are in full swing, to make sure the hopefuls are meeting conditions set by the authority.

A list of independent candidates will be separated from a list of the names of the parties. The names of the candidates will be out for three days, where the authority can receive appeals against excluding names from the lists.

According to the elections schedule, electioneering propaganda will begin as of October 5 and until October 18 for the governorates of the first phase, followed by elections silence. The same happens for the governorates of the second phase, which starts on October 18 and ends on November 1.

The authority set L.E. 500,000 as publicity limit for each individual candidate, and in case of run-off, the limit goes down to L.E. 200,000. While for the 42-seat parties, the publicity limit is L.E. 2.5 million, and in case of run-off, the limit will be L.E. 1 million, and for the 100-seat parties, the limit goes to L.E. 5 million, and in case of run-off, it will be L.E. 2 million.

Last Thursday, registration process to apply in the election began across Egypt for both individual and party lists.

The Egyptian National Election Authority (NEA) has determined 29 courts tasked to receive the candidates’ applications on individual seats and electoral lists.

Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs called on Egyptian expatriates to register their data on the official website of the NEA ahead of the parliamentary elections. They will vote via express mail.

The House election will take place on two stages. The first stage, which will be between 21 October and 30 November, will cover 14 governorates; Giza, Fayoum, Beni Suef, Minya, Assiut, New Valley, Sohag, Qena, Luxor, Aswan, the Red Sea, Alexandria Beheira and Marsa Matruh.

The second stage, which will take place between 4 November and 14 December, will cover 13 governorates; Cairo, Qalioubiya, Daqahleya, Menoufia, Gharbeya, Kafr El-Sheikh, Sharqeya, Damietta, Port Said, Ismailia, Suez, North Sinai and South Sinai.

Conditions for parliament hopefuls to meet

Some conditions were set, upon which parliament hopefuls are required to meet some conditions, in order to be able to run in parliamentary polls. These conditions include a medical check-up document showing that he/she tests negative for drugs.

A candidate should be not less than 25 years old, born to Egyptian parents, holder of at least a basic education certificate and finalized or exempted from military service.

Candidates will compete to fill 568 seats in Egypt’s upcoming House of Representatives election, while another 28 seats (5%) will be appointed by the president, bringing the chamber seats to a total of 596.

The 568 seats are split equally between individual and party list deputies, in which there will be 284 candidates from each category. The House of Representatives election law stipulates that 25% of the total seats must be reserved for women.