Egyptian voters went to the polls on Monday and Tuesday this week in the Senate ballot that was dominated by a pro-government coalition. Ahmed Bendari, executive director of the National Elections Authority (NEA), said the number of eligible voters was estimated at 68 million.
The elections for Egyptians living abroad took place in 124 countries on 1-2 August.
A total of 424 individual candidates and one-party list were competing for 200 seats in the Senate, created as part of the constitutional amendments approved in 2019.
The list of individual candidates included 183 independents and 241 candidates affiliated with 33 political parties. They ran in 27 districts across Egypt with each district representing an entire governorate.
The 100 candidates on the one-party list — dubbed the National Unified List (NUL) — ran in four districts. Two of these (Cairo and South and Middle Delta, and North and Middle and South of Upper Egypt) are allocated 74 seats (37 each), and the other two (East Delta and West Delta) are allocated 26 seats (13 each).
The Senate, whose term is set at five years, will have 300 members. One third will be elected via the individual candidacy system, a third through closed party lists, and a final third to be named by the president.
Early reports on Tuesday night showed that the turnout had been low to average. Early voting tallies showed that the turnout would be 20 per cent or higher. In 2020 when the Senate elections were held for the first time, only 14 per cent of eligible voters (26 million) cast their ballots.
President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi and high-ranking officials, including Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouli and Speaker of the House of Representatives Hanafi Gebali, were keen to vote on the first day of the elections on Monday.
The two-day vote was held at nearly 8,286 polling stations across the country and supervised by 9,500 judges. The NEA approved 18 embassies, 67 local and international civil society organisations, and 230 local and foreign media outlets to monitor the poll.
The final results will be announced on 12 August. If a run-off is required, it will be held on 27-28 August.
Many expect that the polls will be swept by the pro-government Mostaqbal Watan (Nation’s Future) Party, which fielded the largest number of candidates.
It dominates the 12 political parties running under the umbrella of the NUL, fielding 44 candidates.
Other pro-regime political parties on the NUL include Homat Watan with 19 candidates, the National Front with 12, and the People’s Republican Party with three.
The NUL also includes candidates from some opposition parties like the Wafd, Tagammu, Egyptian Socialist Democratic Party, and Adl (Justice).
The NUL, including 100 candidates led by Mostaqbal Watan, ran uncontested and so needs just five per cent of the vote to be declared the winner.
Al-Ahram political analyst Amr Hashem Rabie said the NUL is almost sure to win the vote. “The reason for the existence of a single list — the NUL — is that it is affiliated with the state. It includes parties largely supported by the government, thus reducing the ability of other political forces to form a rival list,” Rabie said.
The 44 Mostaqbal Watan candidates on the NUL represent almost 50 per cent of the candidates. In general, the pro-government parties on the list represent around 90 per cent.
Mostaqbal Watan also fielded the largest number of candidates for the 100 individual seats that were up for grabs in the elections — 70 out of a total of 241 fielded by the political parties.
In Cairo, which is allocated 10 seats, Mostaqbal Watan fielded seven candidates, and in Giza, which is allocated eight, it fielded five.
Early signs show that Mostaqbal Watan could win 50 individual seats. This would allow it to gain between 70 and 80 per cent of the Senate’s 200 contested seats and between 50 and 55 of the 300 seats in general. This is enough to make it the majority party.
In the outgoing 2020-2025 Senate, Mostaqbal Watan had 149 seats (almost 50 per cent of the total).
Mostaqbal Watan fielded 70 individual candidates in 21 governorates (out of a total of 27). The only governorates without an individual Mostaqbal Watan candidate were the New Valley, the Red Sea, Ismailia, Suez, North Sinai, and Marsa Matrouh.
The Mostaqbal Watan Party was founded in 2014 to support the election of President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi for the first time. Most of the founders were retired army and intelligence officers.
The party’s ideology is based on rallying the Egyptian people behind the army and police in the war against terrorist and Islamist militant movements. The party also believes in privatisation policies and supports phasing out subsidies.
Second to Mostaqbal Watan came the pro-government Homat Watan (Protectors of the Nation) Party, which fielded 25 candidates. Founded by Galal Haridi, former commander of the Egyptian Army Commandos, Homat Watan won 11 seats in the 2020 Senate elections.
Third came the opposition Adl Party, which fielded 20 candidates. It is followed by the newly-founded pro-government National Front Party, which fielded 10 candidates.
The number of independent candidates running for individual seats stood at 183.
Rabie said he believed that the competition for the 100 individual seats was limited to four forces: the political parties of Mostaqbal Watan and Homat Watan, Adl Party, and independents.
“These four forces alone are expected to win more than 80 per cent of the individual seats,” he said.
There were 30 other political parties also competing for the 100 individual seats, the most notable of which was the Islamist Nour Party, which fielded eight candidates.
The People’s Republican Party, funded by steel tycoon Ahmed Abu Hashima, fielded six candidates in seven governorates.
The two governorates of Cairo and Giza have the largest number of candidates, with 69 and 30, respectively. In Cairo, 15 political parties fielded 47 candidates, in addition to 22 independents, who were competing for 10 seats.
In Giza, the elections saw 13 political parties fielding 19 candidates, in addition to 11 independents. They competed for eight seats.
The NUL includes some high-profile figures such as construction magnate Mohamed Al-Morshedi, deputy chairman of the People’s Republican Party Abu Hashima, import and export businessman Mohamed Halawa, Deputy Chairman of Mostaqbal Watan Hossam Al-Khouli, Secretary-General of Mostaqbal Watan Essam Hilal, Wafd Party Assistant Secretary-General Tarek Abdel-Aziz Al-Tohami, and editor of the leftist Tagammu Party’s newspaper Al-Ahali Amina Al-Naqash.
Many political analysts believe that when compared to the former Shura Council, which was dissolved in 2013, the Senate does not have a significant role to play, as it has purely advisory powers.
Rabie believes that the poor turnout in the first Senate elections explains why the present ballot was low.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 7 August, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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