Run-offs for 13 seats contested earlier this week in the reruns in four electoral districts will take place next week.

According to HEC spokesperson Omar Marawan, none of the 26 individual candidates in two districts in Beni Suef, and one in each of Beheira and Alexandria, were successful in securing the 50-plus-one majority needed to win.

The run-offs will take place in the four districts on 14 and 15 December for Egyptians abroad and 15 and 16 December within Egypt.

So far, 316 independent candidates secured seats in the parliament and 239 party-affiliated candidates secured seats, constituting a total of 555 seats.

The total number of members in the new parliament will be 596.

Sixty-five members of the liberal Free Egyptians Party (FEP), founded by business and media tycoon Naguib Sawiris, secured the majority of independent seats among competing political parties.

Fifty members of Mostaqbal Watan (Future of Homeland) came in second among parties whose members secured independent seats in the two election phases.

The For the Love of Egypt electoral list, which supports the policies of President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, won all list-based seats in both stages of the elections.

Twenty-eight members of parliament will be appointed by the president.

So far, 183 parliamentary members have received their parliamentary membership cards, the secretary-general of the parliament, Ahmed Saad El-Din, said on Wednesday.

The first session of the parliament is due to take place before the end of the year.

According to media reports, Amna Nosseir, an Al-Azhar scholar who was among the winners in the For the Love of Egypt list, will chair the first session of the new parliament based on her age seniority according to parliamentary bylaws.

The parliament’s speaker and their deputies will be elected during the first session.

Since his election in June 2014, President El-Sisi has held legislative powers in the absence of a parliament.

The first task of the new parliament will be to vote within two weeks of convening on all laws issued by El-Sisi and his predecessor, interim president Adly Mansour, who held office from July 2013 to June 2014.