Egypt's Mostaqbal Watan-led coalition announces its list of parliamentary election candidates
Gamal Essam El-Din, , Friday 25 Sep 2020
The list, submitted to the National Election Authority, includes a large number of current MPs


A political coalition led by Egypt's Mostaqbal Watan (Future of the Homeland) Party submitted its list of parliamentary candidates to the National Election Authority (NEA) on Thursday evening.

The candidates on the list will run for 284 seats reserved for party lists.

Mostaqbal Watan submitted the list two days before the window for candidate registration closes on Saturday.

The NEA said on Wednesday that it will announce an initial list of all parliamentary election candidates on Sunday.

"This initial list will include the total number of candidates running for 568 seats, 284 of which are allocated to individuals and another 284 for party lists," the NEA's statement said, adding that "a final list of parliamentary election candidates will be announced on 5 October."

The party list candidates will compete in four districts: Cairo and the Middle and South Delta (100 seats); the North, Middle and South of Upper Egypt (100 seats); the Eastern Delta (42 seats), and the Western Delta (42 seats).

The individual candidates will compete in 143 districts.

The two-stage election will be held between 21 October and 8 December.

The Mostaqbal Watan-led list, which will compete in the poll under the slogan “for the sake of Egypt,” includes candidates representing 12 political parties —Mostaqbal Watan, Wafd, Guardians of the Nation, Modern Egypt, the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, the People’s Republican Party, Reform and Development, the Tagammu Party, Generation’s Will, the Egyptian Freedom Party, and the Justice and Congress parties.

The list also includes candidates from the so-called Political Parties' Young People Coordination Committee.

Most prominent candidates on the Mostaqbal Watan-led National Unified List are current parliament speaker Ali Abdel-Aal; Ashraf Rashad (deputy chairman of Mostaqbal Watan party and the current chairman of parliament's Youth and Sports Committee); Saad El-Gammal (current chairman of parliament's Arab Affairs Committee); Ahmed Samir (the current chairman of parliament's Economic Affairs Committee); Ahmed Badawi (the current chairman of parliament's Telecommunications Committee); Tarek Radwan (current chairman of parliament's African Affairs Committee); Alaa Abed (the current chairman of parliament's Human Rights Committee); Karim Darwish (the current chairman of parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee); Atef Nasr (the parliamentary spokesperson of Mostaqbal Watan); and Salah Hassaballah (the current parliamentary spokesperson and chairman of the Egyptian Freedom Party)

The list comprises a big number of current MPs such as Ihab El-Tamawy (deputy chairman of parliament's Legislative and Constitutional Affairs Committee); and Tarek El-Khouli (deputy chairman of parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee).

The list also includes some of the current female MPs such as Ghada Agami, Sulaf Darwish, and Shadia Khodeir.

Also, on the list are the names of MPs Mostafa Bakri (editor of the weekly Osbou newspaper), Atiya El-Fayoumi, Moataz Mahmoud, and Fathi Qandil.

The list also includes the names of young candidates such as Mai Karam Gabr (the daughter of the chairman of the Supreme Council for Media Regulation Karam Gabr); Abbas Sadat (the son of chairman of Reform and Development party Anwar Essmat El-Sadat); and Mohamed Mattar (the son of chairman of the Will of the Generation's party Tayesser Mattar).

The list also includes the name of parliament’s former secretary-general Ahmed Saad Eddin, and the former parliamentary speaker of the Liberal Egyptians Party Ayman Abul-Ela.

Some other political forces said they would form coalitions to compete for the party lists, but it is still unclear whether they will be able to do so before the registration door closes on Saturday.

If other coalitions fail to submit applications to the NEA, the Mostaqbal Watan coalition list would be the only bidder for the party list seats and this would help it to win unopposed.

https://english.ahram.org.eg/News/383889.aspx