Elections in Egypt

Elections in Egypt are held for the President and a bicameral legislature. The President of Egypt is elected for a six-year term by popular vote.[1]

Suffrage is universal and compulsory for every Egyptian citizen over 18. Failure to vote can result in fine or even imprisonment,[2] but in practice a significant percentage of eligible voters do not vote. About 60 million voters are registered to vote out of a population of more than 85 million.[3] Turnout in the 2011 parliamentary election was 54%.[4]

Kingdom of Egypt (1922–1953)

The Kingdom of Egypt was granted nominal independence by the United Kingdom on 28 February 1922. Between the Declaration of 1922 and the Revolution of 1952, ten general elections were held (in 1924, 1925, 1926, 1929, 1931, 1936, 1938, 1942, 1945 and 1950).[5] This era is generally known as Egypt's Liberal Experiment. Egypt has never recovered the level of political freedom it enjoyed during this period.[6]

During the four elections held between 1924 and 1929, candidates from the Coptic Christian minority received 15 to 23 seats. Copts received four seats in 1931, six in 1938, 12 in 1945, and five in 1950.[7] The opposition's share of seats also varied throughout this period. The opposition won 15.1% of the seats in the 1924 election, 18.9% in 1926, 6.9% in 1929, 18.1% in 1936, 12.1% in 1942, and 29.2% in the 1950 election, the last to be held prior to the 1952 Revolution which ended Egypt's multi-party system.[8]

Electoral performance of the Wafd Party and Big Landowners during the monarchy[9]

Electoral year	Total seats in the Chamber of Deputies	Wafd Party		Big Landowners
		Seats won	Percentage	Seats won	Percentage
1924	214	181	84.6	93	43.5
1925	214	113	52.8	95	44.4
1926	214	172	80.4	105	49.1
1929	235	212	90.2	108	45.9
1931	150	0	0.0	58	38.7
1936	232	180	77.6	112	48.3
1938	264	14	5.3	131	49.6
1942	264	203	76.9	93	35.2
1945	285	0	0.0	123	43.2
1950	317	157	49.5	119	37.5

Elections under the Mubarak regime

2005 Presidential election

Main article: 2005 Egyptian presidential election

Under the Mubarak era, the Egyptian presidential election of 2005 was the first-ever multi-party, multi-candidate contested presidential election in Egypt's history, made under the 2005/2007 constitutional amendments to the 1971 Constitution of Egypt. Despite its significance, the election was marred by voter fraud, ballot stuffing, boycotts, intimidation, vote-buying, and protests by opposition groups, leading for a low-turnout of under 30%. Before the 2005 election, the President of Egypt was nominated by a two-thirds majority of the rubber-stamp People's Assembly and approved under a referendum process that resembles a show election in authoritarian countries.

 Summary of the 7 September 2005 Egyptian presidential election results

Candidates, Nominating parties	Votes	%
Hosni Mubarak, National Democratic Party (Al-Hizb Al-Watani Al-Dimuqrati)	6,316,714	88.6
Ayman Nour, Tomorrow Party (Hizb al-Ghad)	540,405	7.3
Numan Gomaa, New Wafd Party (Hizb al-Wafd al-Jadid)	201,891	2.8
Total (Turnout 22.9 %)	7,059,010

2010 Parliamentary elections

Main article: 2010 Egyptian parliamentary election

Main article: 2010 Egyptian Shura Council election

Under the Mubarak era, The People's Assembly and Shura Council were elected under an electoral system of single member plurality. Along with the combination of voter fraud, ballot stuffing, intimidation, and lack of judicial and international supervision, this ensured the NDP a super-majority win of seats for both houses. The Muslim Brotherhood were not recognized as a political party by law, but its members were allowed to run as independents.

 Summary of the 2010 People's Assembly of Egypt election results

Parties		Votes	%	2010 Seats	2005 Seats	Net Change	Seats %
	National Democratic Party (Al'Hizb Al Watani Al Democrati)			420	330	90	81.0%
	Independents (NDP)[10]			53	0	53	10.2%
	New Wafd Party (Hizb al-Wafd-al-Jadid)			6	5	1	1.1%
	Progressive National Unionist Party (Hizb al Tagammo' al Watani al Taqadommi al Wahdawi)			5	1	4	0.9%
	Tomorrow Party (Hizb al-Ghad)			1	1	0	0.2%
	Arab Democratic Nasserist Party or Nasserist Party			0	0	0	0.0%
	Liberal Party (Hizb al-Ahrar)			0	0	0	0.0%
	Social Justice Party (Hizb Al-'Adala al- Ijtima'iyya)			1	-	1	0.2%
	Democratic Generation Party (Hizb El-Geel al-Democrati)			1	-	1	0.2%
	Democratic Peace Party (Hizb El-Salaam al-Democrati)			1	-	1	0.2%
	Independents (Muslim Brotherhood - al-ikhwān al-muslimūn)			1	88	−87	0.2%
	Independents (other)			15	19	4
	Still in contest			4
	Unelected members			10	0	0	1.9%
Total (turnout %)				518

 Summary of the 1 June and 8 June 2010 Egyptian Shura Council election results

Parties	Seats
	1st	2nd	Σ
National Democratic Party (Al'Hizb Al Watani Al Democrati)	74	6	80
Progressive National Unionist Party (Hizb al Tagammo' al Watani al Taqadommi al Wahdwawi)	1	0	1
Tomorrow Party (Hizb al-Ghad)	1	0	1
Arab Democratic Nasserist Party or Nasserist Party	1	0	1
Democratic Generation Party (Hizb El-Geel al-Democrati)	1	0	1
Independents (other)	0	4	4
Independents (Muslim Brotherhood - al-ikhwān al-muslimūn)	0	0	0
Appointees			44
Total	78	10	132

Latest elections

2020 Senate election

2018 Presidential election

Main article: 2018 Egyptian presidential election

2015 Parliamentary election

Main article: 2015 Egyptian parliamentary election

 Summary of the 2015 election for House of Representatives (Egypt)

	Party		Ideology	Votes	Vote %	FPTP Seats	List Seats	Total Seats	Appointed members
	Free Egyptians Party		Liberalism, Secularism			57	8	65	0
	Nation's Future Party		Populism			43	10	53	0
	New Wafd Party		Egyptian nationalism, National Liberalism			27	8	36	1
	Homeland Defenders Party		Populism			10	8	18	0
	Republican People's Party		Liberalism, Populism			13	0	13	0
	Conference Party		Big tent, Liberalism			8	4	12	0
	Al-Nour Party		Islamism, Salafism			11	0	11	0
	Conservative Party		Conservative Liberalism			1	5	6	0
	Democratic Peace Party		Liberal Democracy, Civic Nationalism			5	0	5	0
	Egyptian Social Democratic Party		Social Democracy, Social Liberalism			4	0	4	0
	Egyptian National Movement Party		Secularism			4	0	4	0
	Modern Egypt Party					4	0	4	0
	Freedom Party		Big tent, Liberalism			3	0	3	0
	Reform and Development Party		Liberalism			3	0	3	0
	My Homeland Egypt Party		Populism			3	0	3	0
	Revolutionary Guards Party		Nationalism, Liberalism			1	0	1	0
	National Progressive Unionist Party		Left-wing Nationalism, Democratic Socialism			1	0	2	1
	Free Egyptian Building Party		Islamism			1	0	1	0
	Nasserist Party		Arab Nationalism, Arab Socialism			1	0	1	0
	Independents		Independents	-	-	251	74	351	26
	Total		MPs	-	-	451	117	596	28

Past elections

Next elections

Egyptian presidential elections are held using a two-round system; the next election should be held in 2024.

The House of Representatives sits for a five-year term but can be dissolved earlier by the president. If the current parliament lasts the full term, the next elections will be held in 2020.

Referendums

The first referendum in Egypt was held on 23 June 1956. The electorate agreed with the adoption of the new 1956 constitution, and with the election of Gamal Abdel Nasser as President of Egypt.[11]

See also

• Electoral calendar
• Electoral system
• 2019 Egyptian constitutional referendum

References

1. BBC (18 January 2014). "BBC News - Egypt referendum: '98% back new constitution'". BBC Online. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
2. "Top stats for Egypt: Country profile". nationmaster.com.
3. "Egyptian elections preliminary results". jadaliyya.com.
4. "Muslim Brotherhood tops Egyptian poll result". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 17 June 2013.
5. Caldwell, J. A. M. (1966). Dustūr: A Survey of the Constitutions of the Arab and Muslim States. Reprinted with additional material from the 2nd ed. of Encyclopaedia of Islam. Leiden: Brill. p. 29. OCLC 255757167. Retrieved 2010-07-21. There had been ten general elections held from 1924 to 1952. These were the elections of 1924, 1925, 1926, 1929, 1931, 1936, 1938, 1942, 1945 and 1950.
6. "Polity IV Regime Trends: Egypt, 1946–2008". Polity data series. Center for Systemic Peace. Retrieved 2010-07-21.
7. Mansour, Atallah (2004). Narrow Gate Churches: The Christian Presence in the Holy Land under Muslim and Jewish Rule. Pasadena, CA: Hope Publishing House. p. 110. ISBN 978-1-932717-02-0. Retrieved 2010-07-22.
8. Quandt, William B. (1988). The Middle East: Ten Years After Camp David. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press. p. 75. ISBN 978-0-8157-7293-4. Retrieved 2010-07-22.
9. Ansari, Hamied (1986). Egypt, the Stalled Society. SUNY series in Near Eastern studies. Albany: State University of New York Press. p. 71. ISBN 978-0-88706-183-7. Retrieved 2010-07-23.
10. http://www.almesryoon.com/news.aspx?id=45332
11. Marques, Alvaro; Smith, Thomas B. (April 1984). "Referendums in the Third World". Electoral Studies. 3 (1): 85–105. doi:10.1016/0261-3794(84)90025-8. ISSN 0261-3794. There have been 13 referendums in Egypt, the first one being held on 23 June 1956 when voters were asked to approve or disapprove of Nasser and the constitution.

Bibliography

• Landau, Jacob M. (1953). Parliaments and Parties in Egypt (PhD thesis). Tel Aviv: Israel Pub. House. OCLC 3263523. Retrieved 2010-07-23.
• den Hartog, Michael (1996–1998). A Two-Way Approach to Stability in the Arab Southern Mediterranean Coastal States: Theories on Democracy and International Cooperation Applied to Developments Regarding Political Stability in Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia (PDF) (Report). NATO Academic Forum. Retrieved 2011-04-10.

External links

• Egypt Elections Watch – Jadaliyya
• Aswatna Virutal Resource Center a central resource for electoral information in Egypt
• Global Integrity Report: Egypt has analysis of election integrity in Egypt.
• Adam Carr's Election Archive
• IDEA Report on Egypt
• Elections in Egypt, Human Rights Watch, 2010