Parliamentary constituency law to be issued in 3 weeks: Egypt's PM

Ahram Online, Tuesday 14 Oct 2014

Law will redraw constituencies according to area and population, as plans underway for parliamentary polls by year's end

Egyptian Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab
Egyptian Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab speaks during a a televised news conference at his office in Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, July 5, 2014 (Photo: AP)

Egypt's Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab said late Monday that a law redrawing the country's parliamentary electoral constituencies will be issued within the next two to three weeks.

Mahlab, in a phone interview with private satellite channel MBC Masr, said the law is currently being revised.

The law aims to redraw Egypt's electoral constituencies to comply with the requirements of the new constitution, passed in January of this year via a popular referendum.

Article 102 of the new constitution stipulates that legislators must ensure that electoral constituencies be redrawn to balance both their areas and populations.

Parliamentary polls are the final step in a "roadmap" established following the ouster of president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.

Efforts to hold the elections before the end of this year, as promised by Egypt's current President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, have gained momentum.

In a press meeting last Saturday, a senior member of the committee overlooking the drafting of the electoral constituencies law said a burden was added to the committee when Egypt's cabinet increased the number of governorates from 27 to 30.

The new governorates are Al-Alamein, Al-Wahat and Middle Sinai.

The upcoming polls have already been criticised by a number of liberal and leftist political parties who say the new parliamentary law discriminates against political parties, cutting down the number of their parliamentary seats after they previously held the majority.

The law reserves as many as 420 seats for independents (75 percent) and just 120 seats (20 percent) to party-based candidates.

 

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