Egypt's High Elections Committee on Saturday opened the registration period for candidates planning to stand in the by-election for the empty parliamentary seat of recently expelled MP Tawfik Okasha, and set the by-election date for April. 

Okasha represented the Talkha and Nabaruh districts in the Nile Delta governorate of Daqahlia. 

The head of the High Electoral Committee, Ayman Abbas, said that the seat would be filled within 60 days. Voting by Egyptian residents will take place on 16 and 17 April, while expatriate residents of the districts will vote on 15 and 16 April.

A report by a parliamentary investigative ‎committee accused Okasha of violating the ‎principle of the separation of powers and disrupting ‎Egypt's deep-rooted parliamentary rules and ‎precedents by taking the unilateral decision to meet privately with the Israeli ambassador.‎