Major General Mamdouh Shahin has just announced the new elections law which organizes the people’s assembly and Shura council law in a press conference.
Here are the most important points in the law :
- The parliamentary elections will be delayed but not at the end of the year !! “ Last time I checked the elections committee will start working on September 18th ,2011 !? “
- The people’s assembly and Shura council elections will be held in the same day on three stages , which means three days !! “I do not understand how or why !? This can confess people already and it will make it hard for civil society organization to monitor this huge process !!”
- The parliamentary elections will have mixed voting system “ 50% direct individual voting system and 50% the closed proportional system”
- The candidate ages in the people’s assembly is reduced from 30 to 25 years old.
- The people’s assembly “The parliament” will be made of 504 members.
- The upcoming president can appoint 10 members.
- The candidates age in the Shura council is 35 years.
- The Shura council will be made of 390 members.
- 1/3 of Shura council will be appointed by the upcoming president
- Voting will be by the ID Card
- Egyptians abroad right to vote has not be decided yet
- There will be no international monitors as this is an attack on our sovereignty !!
- There will be no women’s quota but every electoral list should include at least one woman.
- The court can nullify as parliamentary membership in 90 days from announcing the results
- No religious slogans to be used.
- There will be 120 electoral committees national wide.
I do not understand why the elections will be delayed , I will not jump in to conclusions now because I know Mamdouh Shahin will take around in the talk shows tonight.
I hope that we wait the full text of the law so we can read it carefully.
Side note : Of course this delay in elections comes as a victory for those Pro No team. SCAF wants to please everybody.
"There will be no international monitors as this is an attack on our sovereignty !!"
ReplyDeleteWhat sort of crap is that? At this moment of nation the international monitors is a must!
"Egyptians abroad right to vote has not be decided yet"
Is this attack on ElBaradei? Why can't they announce it.
Presidential powers seems huge with those appointments. From my point of view, government that relies on one person is a utter failure.
Z,thanks for this update! this is really crappy and BS! this sounded like old regime! no changes and old NDP. so this people with money they can come back again to be MP! how could there be 50% from farmers and workers and at the same time they dissolved the quota for women!!! We thought the new Parliament will have a proper educated people who are elected fairly thru elections and not like the old regime! even Shura Council the same procedures like the old regime!! where is the changes! and why there is no monitor from International committee and what Egypt have to hide? and how sure the Egyptians that there will not be fake voting like the old regime!!! Dont forget this 50% farmers and workers at part of people who will decide Egypt's future and I hope they are educated people not like mubarak era!!
ReplyDeleteI am really sad this is happening again to Egypt. We thought Egypt is going forward to become a better country with clean Parliament and House but it seems Egypt is going back to the dark ages again! even the new President have the same power as old mubarak since he has the power to appoint members of Shura Council that he likes!!! good luck to Egypt!
Side note : Of course this delay in elections comes as a victory for those Pro No team. SCAF wants to please everybody.
ReplyDeletethat's your shallow, uneducated and quite idiotic opinion
What the army is currently doing is a shame to the mighty people of Egypt.
ReplyDeleteThey want to play the same game Gamal AbdelNasser played 60 years ago.
Essam Sharaf should resign so that they no longer have any legitimacy
We dont need a parliament now, we need to write a new constitution
the funny part is for those naive advocating for the yes vote as not to prolong the army rule and because the constitution would take long to write(rolls eyes), by now we would have already had our constitution, we would have went once for a referendum instead of twice and we'd probably be having the elections before the end of this year... but idiots never listen to reason.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for the briefing !
ReplyDeleteSo they suppressed the presidential appointment of 10 women earlier this year saying it was undemocratic, but they will actually go on with the appointment thing ? So, what, the women are undemocratic ? 1 woman per list ??? It means 1 woman (minimum of course) per party much keda ??? Shame. Revolutionary Tunisia implemented a law with a compulsory 50% of women per list a few months ago, just saying ... Plus, I give you the trick : you put the women at the end of the list : you're sure they are not elected, that's why when you use such quotas you have to add that the list has to be in a specific order (like one women on 2, or 3 women on 6 candidates or so).
And really, hasn't the law for expatriates to vote been passed already ?
That idea that foreign monitoring harms the sovereignty was a lie of old regime to hide their cheating ... (was mentioned in the Café on Al Jazeera last friday, can't remember who said it though)
About the no religious slogan stuff ... well it's interesting cause I think a lot of non-educated Egyptians (knowing 30% are illiterates) can be easily convinced by the mention of God alone, as it scares them, which souldn't be cause it is no political program. However it seems to me it's the definition of political islam to use religion in politics, so ... I don't really support them but they have a right to express their views right ? Saying "God wants you to vote for MBs" is wrong, but saying "MBs support the shari3a", is it political or religious ?
@Anonymous 7/20/2011 08:34:00 PM
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you
I was personally denied the right to participate to the referendum (I am abroad right now for a PhD)
From a jurisprudential point of view, what the army did is totally against all human rights:
- First, they suspended 1971 Constitution
- Then, they proposed several amendments, one of them being retroactive (the one concerning the presidential candidate nationality)
- Once the amendments were accepted, they made "e3lan dostori" Constituional Declaration (I dont know if it can be translated that way), where several amendments that were accepted were modified, and with more than 50 articles that were not submitted to referendum
- Finally they made a framework for the legislative elections that is the worst possible: almost exactly the same law as before revolution, and the parliament powers are unchanged
To all those who defend the SCAF, you should be ashamed of yourself, we are going to have a worse country than before.
To all those who said yes to the referendum, you made a real mistake that will impact Egypt for years...
the fact that 50% of Maglis el Sha3b is still fella7een and 3omal (farmers and workers) is a DISASTER. Everyone wanted this part of the constitution to be removed and the electoral law to remove it as well. In most cases, a lewa or business man just buys a piece of land or a workshop/factory and thus qualifies as a worker or a farmer.
ReplyDeleteNow 50% is going to be fella7een and 3omal. Mamdouh Shahin said he couldn't get rid of this because it's not within the SCAF's rights and a new parliament has to do this. WHAT?!?! He's already changed so much- why not this? It's also nonsense to think that half of parliament is going to willingly vote itself out. Can you really expect that 50% to vote for getting rid of the quota for fella7een and 3omal?! How can you realistically expect any of them to get rid of the means they used to assume power?
My prediction is that the newly elected fella7een and 3omal are going to prevent any legislation or constitutional provisions that try to get rid of this quota. They will also freely give their votes/voices to whoever helps them preserve their place in parliament. Anyone who says they will help preserve the quota has 50% of parliament at his fingertips for whatever legislation he wants passed.
Again, this is an absolute disaster. Folool el nizam is still at large. They know the significance of the fella7een and the 3omal and they are going to use this to their advantage. We may as well be welcoming back corruption with open arms.
Question from non-Egyptian: Will the Shura still have appointed positions, or will all be seated by direct election? And if some are appointed, by whom?
ReplyDeleteAnd what does Shura mean?
Oops! Sorry. Found the answer above.
ReplyDelete