Ashri: New Constitution Determines Parliamentary Elections System

Ashri: New Constitution Determines Parliamentary Elections System

 Mukhtar Ashri, Chairman of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP)’s Legal Committee, said that – for the upcoming parliamentary elections – using a system where 50% of seats are contested by political party candidate lists and 50% by independents is best for Egypt, at the current stage.



Ashri said that this was his personal view, not the FJP’s vision or preference for the new parliamentary elections system.


He pointed that, ultimately, the issue is up to the Constituent Assembly entrusted with authoring the new constitution.


Ashri added that the 50-50 parliamentary elections system is the most suitable for Egyptian society today, because it safeguards the right of independent candidates.


"At the same time, this system helps strengthen new and small parties, which will help establish better and richer partisan and political life in the future.


"It has not been such a long time since Egypt toppled the former regime, where an individual candidate electoral system was used exclusively. Meanwhile, a solely party-list system will not be good enough, in the current stage."


Ashri stressed the need to grant independent candidates the right to join political parties after their victory in elections, so there can be a majority party able to form a feasible government.