2020 Egyptian Senate election

Senate elections are scheduled to be held in Egypt on 11 and 12 August 2020, with the diaspora voting on 9 and 10 August.[1] The elections will be completed with the run-off elections, which will determine the final outcome of the elections. These run-offs will take place on 8-9 September (6-7 for the diaspora), and their results will be announced by 16 September.[2]

Egypt
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
Egypt

Member State of the Arab League

Constitution (history)
Political parties (former)
 Egypt portal

Background

Shura Council elections were scheduled to take place in Egypt at most a year after the new House of Representatives was seated,[3] according to Article 230 of the Egyptian Constitution of 2012.[4] The election did not take place because the Shura Council was abolished in the 2014 constitution.[5][6]

However, in 2019, after the 2019 Egyptian constitutional referendum, further amendments made the parliament a bicameral body, with the Shura Council (which was abolished in 2014) restored as the Senate, which would consist of at least 120 elected members and 60 appointed by the president.[7] The House later fixed the numbers at 300 senators, with one third appointed, one third directly elected in single member constituencies under the Two-round system,[8] and the last third directly elected as well, under a closed party list system.[9]

Conduct

The pro-government Nation's Future Party was accused of buying votes in several constituencies. The government was also accused of only implementing safety precautions due to the COVID-19 pandemic in areas that witnessed a large media presence.[10] The National Council for Human Rights was also prevented from visiting several poll stations by the police, and some polling stations were said to have had insufficient ambulances and wheelchairs for people with disabilities and the elderly.[11]

References
  1. "Egypt to hold Senate elections 11-12 August - Politics - Egypt". Ahram Online. 4 July 2020. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  2. "5 Things to Know About Egypt's Upcoming Senate Elections". Egyptian Streets. 24 July 2020. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  3. The Egyptian Shura council and the international experiences
  4. Saleh, Nivien. "The 2012 Constitution of Egypt, Translated by Nivien Saleh, with Index". Retrieved 21 January 2014.
  5. "50 member constitution committee eliminates Shura Council". Ahram Online. 1 December 2013. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
  6. "Egypt constitution 'approved by 98.1 percent'". Al Jazeera English. 18 January 2014. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
  7. Gamal Essam El-Din (15 April 2019). "Frequently Asked Questions about parliament's proposed amendments of Egypt's 2014 constitution". Ahram Online. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
  8. "Two-Round System". www.electoral-reform.org.uk. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  9. "Egypt to hold Senate elections in August". EgyptToday. 13 July 2020. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  10. "Egypt's Senate elections marred by vote-buying and apathy". Middle East Eye. 12 August 2020. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  11. Al-Youm, Al-Masry (12 August 2020). "Low voter turnout on first day of Senate elections in Egypt". Egypt Independent. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.