An estimated 2745 hopefuls aiming to run in Egypt's parliamentary elections have submitted their papers on Tuesday, the first day of registration, Egypt's Higher Elections Committee (HEC) announced on Wednesday.
Candidates wishing to run in the upcoming parliamentary elections, whose first stage is set to begin 17 October, can register between 1 and 12 of September.
Egypt's parliament – or the House of Representatives – will be made up of 596 members, 448 elected as independents and 120 from party-based lists. The remaining 28 seats will be filled by presidential appointees.
Egypt has around 55 million registered voters.
Egyptian political parties like Al-Wafd and Nour started to submit the paperwork to the HEC for their parliamentary election hopefuls who will compete for individual seats across the country.
According to news reports, the parties have not presented their party-based lists.
On Sunday, the HEC announced a new timetable for the elections, scheduling them for two stages in October and November, with run-offs extending into early December.
The elections, previously scheduled for March, were postponed three weeks before they were set to begin after the country’s Supreme Constitutional Court ruled that the Constituencies Division Laws were “unconstitutional."
The laws have since been modified.
Egypt has been without a parliament since the house of representatives elected in late 2011 was dissolved in June 2012, following a court ruling that judged the law regulating its election to be unconstitutional.
Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi holds legislative powers until an elected parliament convenes.
Once a parliament is elected, its members will have to vote on all laws issued by El-Sisi and his predecessor, interim president Adly Mansour.
Source: http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/139487/Egypt/Politics-/Over...
