(AFP File Photo)
The Shura Council approved the Supreme Constitutional Court’s (SCC) recommendations for Egypt’s new bill for the House of Representative elections.
The bill, which was agreed upon among members of the council, will be sent back to the SCC to ensure the recommendations were appropriately implemented, according to Chairman of the Shura Council Ahmed Fahmy.
The adjustments included an increase in the number of MPs across seven governorates in the House of Representatives, raising the total from 546 to 588.
The country’s legislative body also agreed that procedures to begin parliamentary elections would commence 60 days after the law was implemented.
The Shura Council also added a paragraph to Article 13 of the bill, according to state-owned Al-Ahram, banning the use of religious emblems in campaigning, or any other action that would “threaten national unity” or promote discrimination among citizens.
The council also complied with court recommendations and placed a cap of EGP 600,000 for campaigning in the first round of House of Representatives elections and EGP 150,000 in the run-off stage.
Last week the Shura Council passed the political participation bill after discussing the proposed amendments from the SCC.
The court had found nine articles unconstitutional, and the council resubmitted the bill to the court after making adjustments.
Abdel Rahman Haridi, a member of the council and Al-Tayar Al-Masry Party, was expelled from Sunday’s general session after he entered the chamber wearing a blue sash reading “a new president demanded”.
MPs in the session voted to kick Haridi out of the session, a motion condemned by his party. Al-Tayar Al-Masry reminded the MPs of sessions in which Muslim Brotherhood MPs in the Mubarak-era People’s Assembly wore sashes against the emergency law.
