Constitutional experts are divided upon the legality of delaying the announcement of the presidential elections results. According to article 39 of the presidential elections law, the results of the presidential elections should be announced “within three days of the arrival of the minutes of the general committee to the Presidential Elections Committee (PEC), and then the results are published in the official gazette”.
In light of the PEC’s latest statement regarding the postponement of announcing the result until all the appeals – filed by both presidential candidates – are considered, many see the postponement as “unconstitutional”. If the law was upheld, the PEC would be obliged to announce the official results by Friday at the latest.
However, Dr. Ra’fat Fouda, Constitutional Law professor at Cairo University, explained that “Article 39 of the Presidential Elections Law has set specific dates for the declaration of the result, those dates originally are organizational dates, not binding ones.”
He added “Thus, the dates could be extended without having that extension defect the final decision, unless the legislator arranges a certain sanction for violation.”
The PEC was supposed to announce the official results today, Thursday, but they released a public statement on Wednesday night saying that due to the huge number of appeals filed, over 400 in total, the committee needed more time before they could announce the official results. The results could be postponed as late as Saturday or Sunday.
