Egypt is set to hold in August the first elections for the newly-established Senate, an upper house of the parliament that was created as part of the 2019 constitutional amendments, parliamentary sources told Akhbar Al-Youm newspaper.

Elections for the lower house, the House of Representatives, will be held in November as previously scheduled, the sources added.

The lower house of parliament was brought back to life after constitutional amendments were approved in an April 2019 referendum. Another upper house known as the Shura Council, the role of which was largely advisory, was abolished in 2014.   

The House of Representative will discuss on Sunday a draft bill on the formation and election of the Senate and draft amendments to the law of the House of Representatives.

The draft bill on the Senate indicates that the chamber will constitute of 300 members; two-third to be elected through a secret ballot and one-third to be appointed by the president.

According to the bill, 100 of the seats will be elected through a closed-list system and 100 through the individual system.

It also stipulates that women should have no less than 10 percent of the Senate seats.