Yasser Al-Hudhayby, deputy head of the Wafd Party, said that the legal committee, under the supervision of party head Baha Abu Shoqa and a number of professors of the constitutional law in the party, will finish preparing the laws of the Senate and parliament next Saturday.
This vision will be presented during the national dialogue sessions held by the Future Nation’s Party with other parties in preparation for submitting it to Parliament during the coming period which expresses the vision of the parties as a whole after agreeing on it.
In December, Nation’s Future Party organised a national dialogue in attendance of several parties, including Conservative Party, the Reform and Development Party, the Republican People’s Party, the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, Justice, and Al-Ghad (tomorrow) Party to discuss the upcoming electoral benefits, unified vision for the laws of the house of representatives and the senate, in addition to the law of the division of districts and elections of local councils, as well as issues raised within the parliament and concerns of the citizen.
Al-Hudhayby stated that the features of the Senate bill include that the number of seats be 300, elections are to be held on 200 seats with the closed-list system, and 100 seats appointed by the President in accordance with the constitution.
He continued, “the constituencies should be one for each governorate and each governorate will deserve a number of seats according to the rule of the residential bloc with a specific number of voters.”
He pointed out that the individual system in the elections leads to conflicts, rivalries, and capital interference, and will allow unqualified people to come into parliament, especially since Egypt has weak voting education.
As for the House of Representatives bill, he said that the Wafd Party would prepare a law that includes contesting the elections with a 75% closed list system, and 25% by the individual system.
He affirmed that his party does not mind entering the elections of both councils with other parties who are supportive of the Egyptian state.
For his part, Mohamed Shawky, Secretary of Legislative Affairs of the Future Nation Party, said that consultations between National Dialogue parties hosted by the party in December with entire parties are still ongoing, regarding the laws of the Parliament and Senate.
Shawky said that only two sessions of the expert committee that was formed from the 10 parties were held to agree on a unified vision about the laws, noting that “we will complete the meetings to reach a final vision.”
He said that the Senate law submitted by the “Support Egypt” coalition – which has a parliamentary majority – before the end of the fourth session, is in parliament, either we will approve or amend.
In a related context, Mohamad Al-Ghobashi, assistant to the head of the Party of Homeland Guard, said that the party will present its vision during the discussion of the Senate law in Parliament, adding: “Our vision includes that the number of seats in the Senate to be 270.”
He continued, that 90 seats will be appointed by the President according to the constitution, and 180 seats are distributed over 5 or 6 closed lists without the presence of individual seats divided at the level of the nation, including two lists south and north of Upper Egypt, east and west of the Delta, and the middle, and Greater Cairo, indicating that each list will be according to its population.
Al-Ghobashi suggested the necessity of setting a condition during acceptance of the candidacy papers for the senate elections, which could include the applicant must have a master’s degree or a doctorate, because he must be a person of expertise so that he can benefit the Senate.
In its current and final session, the Parliament is preparing to discuss the laws of constitutional entitlements, particularly the law of House of Representatives and the Senate, which was a result of the recent constitutional amendments, in addition to local council elections bill.
