The Supreme Electoral Commission (SEC) promised that parliamentary elections will be over and that the new parliament will hold its first session before the end of December 2015, spokesperson Omar Marwan told representatives of various embassies in Cairo Monday.
The SEC awaits two political laws that were under revision: the law organising political life, and the law organising parliamentary life. “They have indeed been revised and should be issued today or within the next couple of days,” Deputy PM for Parliamentary Affairs Refaat Al-Komsan told Daily News Egypt Tuesday.
The laws are pending official approval by the presidency. Last week, President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi approved and issued the third law, concerning the division of electoral constituencies, set at a total of 205.
On a further note, the SEC is holding daily meetings to prepare for the polls in accordance with the new division of districts, as its members also await final nomination by the president to become permanent members, which Al-Komsan said was in the final process.
With those steps yet to be completed, the SEC is expected to announced the election details and its schedule towards the beginning of August. Media reports had published speculations about the first round of elections to be held in October.
Earlier this month, Minister of Transitional Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Ibrahim El-Heneidy had stated parliamentary polls were due in September. Al-Komsan highlighted that no official dates could be announced outside the SEC, the only official entity entitled to do so.
Regarding the remaining two laws, the one regulating the parliament was contested by the Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC), as it included an article which forbade dual citizenship holders from running in parliamentary elections, which the court deemed unconstitutional.
