• MB News
  • October 13, 2005
  • 4 minutes read

parliamentary elections November 8th

parliamentary elections November 8th

parliamentary elections November 8th
CAIRO – Egypt’s parliamentary elections will be held in three stages in different areas of the Arab world’s most populous country on November 9, November 20 and December 1, a presidential decree said today.

President Hosni Mubarak’s ruling National Democratic Party now holds more than 90 per cent of parliament’s 444 seats.

Parliamentary elections were also held in three stages in 2000 to ensure full judicial supervision. Some judges have said the upcoming elections should be in five stages to ensure adequate judicial monitoring.

Some opposition parties have formed an alliance in a bid to boost their presence. Any opposition party needs to win at least 5 per cent of the seats if it is to put up a candidate in the 2011 presidential race, according presidential election rules.

No opposition party now meets that requirement but in Egypt’s first multi-candidate presidential election in September the 5 per cent rule was waived, allowing several parties to field candidates.

The Ghad (Tomorrow) Party of Ayman Nour, who came second in the presidential race with 8 per cent of the votes, has only six seats in parliament — or less than 1.4 per cent of the total. Ghad is not part of the opposition alliance.

Mubarak won the presidential vote with 89 per cent of the vote on turnout of 23 per cent. Several rights groups said abuses were rife in the presidential vote but not enough to affect the result.

The Muslim Brotherhood, which controls the biggest opposition bloc with 17 seats, is not officially allowed to field candidates because it is banned. But members have won seats in previous elections by running as independents.

The Brotherhood’s deputy leader Mohamed Habib said earlier this month he expected the group to win 50 to 60 seats in the upcoming election.