The Higher Elections Committee (HEC), the seven-member judicial body in charge of supervising Egypt's upcoming parliamentary elections, met this week to review preparations for the polls. According to spokesman Omar Marawan, the HEC has begun preparing for the polls even if two election laws regulating the formation of the House of Representatives and the exercise of political rights have not yet been issued by President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi. Marawan indicated that “although the law on electoral constituencies was ratified by President Al-Sisi on 9 July, this was not sufficient to set a timeline for the polls.” The constituencies law states that Egypt's next parliament will comprise 596 MPs, with 448 as independents, 120 party-based, and 28 presidential appointees. Marawan indicated that the HEC was currently coordinating with the judicial authorities on the number of judges who will be entrusted with supervising the polls. “Judges suspected of showing particular political tendencies or mixing politics with legal matters will not be part of the poll-supervision process,” Marawan said. In border governorates like North Sinai where the Islamist militant group Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis is particularly active, Marawan said the HEC and the ministries of defence and the interior were taking part in discussions on how to protect judges and the voting process from terrorist attacks. Marawan said the HEC's make-up will change after four members reached the retirement age. “Four new members will be appointed soon to pave the way for the polls,” he said. Meanwhile, minister of parliamentary affairs Ibrahim Al-Heneidi met this week with Secretary-General of the House of Representatives Khaled Al-Sadr, Al-Heneidi saying that as the parliamentary elections were approaching it was necessary to discuss the technical and logistical preparations that should be in place before parliament convenes. Al-Heneidi said that “an electronic voting system will be introduced, while giant TV screens will show the progress of the parliamentary debates and the results of voting.” He indicated that a number of security measures were being introduced to safeguard the parliament building against terrorist threats. “New machines have been installed to detect weapons or explosives and new MPs will be obliged to leave their cars in nearby Tahrir Square for security reasons,” Al-Heneidi said. The slowness of the election procedures has triggered angry responses from the political parties. Anwar Al-Sadat, chairman of the liberal Reform and Development Party, wondered why “just one law, out of three, has been ratified by President Al-Sisi.” “There have been no clear responses from officials as to why the other two laws have not yet been ratified and why there has been so much delay in preparing for the polls,” Al-Sadat told Al-Ahram Weekly, adding that “preparations will begin in earnest after the international celebration of the opening of the new Suez Canal scheduled for 6 August.” He said that his party had prepared “an initial list of 50 candidates to compete in the polls. While these will run as independents, the party has also decided to be part of the electoral coalition entitled ‘For the Love of Egypt' in the hope that this will help the non-Islamist political parties gain a majority in the coming parliament.” A number of revolutionary political parties which had said that they would boycott the polls in protest at the election laws have suddenly decided to change tack. According to Medhat Al-Zahed, spokesman for the Socialist Popular Alliance, the “revolutionary forces under the banner of the so-called Democratic Alliance have increasingly favoured participating in the polls.” “We will present independent candidates, but at the same time we will be working on forming an electoral coalition of leftist and liberal forces to compete for party-based seats,” Al-Zahed said, stressing that the revolutionary political parties were still against joining any electoral alliance that included officials from the Muslim Brotherhood or the former regime of ousted former president Hosni Mubarak. Mohamed Sami, chairman of the Al-Karama Party, another revolutionary force, said “the party is heavily involved in debates with leftist and Nasserist factions in preparation for the polls. We are doing our best to bring all the Nasserist and leftist forces into one electoral bloc that will be able to gain seats in the coming parliament.” Al-Zahed and Sami agreed that repeated delays in holding the parliamentary elections had negatively affected the leftist and revolutionary forces. “Not being sure when the elections will be held or whether they will be delayed has dented enthusiasm,” Sami said. Mohamed Abul-Ghar, chairman of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, believes that the “state authorities are deliberately delaying the parliamentary elections. This has become quite clear to all, and it has left a negative impact in the form of diminishing public enthusiasm for the polls,” he said. He added that as many as 80 of his party's leading officials would be contesting the polls as independents. Liberal political parties such as Al-Wafd and the Free Egyptians said they would be competing strongly in the coming polls. Hossam Al-Khouli, an Al-Wafd Party spokesman, insisted that “the delay in the parliamentary polls has left a gap of confidence between the political forces and the state authorities.” “When you hear officials announcing that the elections will be held soon and then nothing happens on the ground, you begin to have doubts and lose confidence in these officials,” Al-Khouli said. However, Al-Wafd Secretary-General Bahaa Abu Shoka believes that “once a timetable for the polls is announced, enthusiasm for participation will gain momentum.” “Al-Wafd will field 330 candidates as independents, and it has also opted to join the ‘For the Love of Egypt' electoral bloc in order to compete for the 120 seats reserved for party-based candidates,” he said. It is widely believed that the “For the Love of Egypt” electoral bloc is receiving support from president Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi. On more than one occasion, Al-Sisi has urged the political parties to form a single electoral coalition capable of securing a majority of seats in the coming parliament and ensuring that no Islamist forces, especially the Muslim Brotherhood or its affiliates, gain a foothold in it. Although political analysts have slammed Al-Sisi's call as an attempt at creating a “colourless and toothless parliament,” some political parties have said the call is necessary in order to help the secular political forces sweep the coming parliament. Yehia Qadri, deputy chairman of the National Movement Party, said discussions were still under way to bring all non-Islamist political forces into one bloc. He told Al-Ahram on 27 July that even if civilian political forces failed to form a single coalition, they would be able to do so after they joined the parliament. “The most important thing now is that the coming parliament becomes representative of all the secular forces that believe in the ideals of the 25 January and 30 June Revolutions,” Qadri said. Qadri's National Movement and the Misr Baladi (Egypt my Homeland) Parties have become major forces, and most of the leading officials of the two parties were previously members of Mubarak's defunct ruling National Democratic Party (NDP). “We have prepared a list of 270 candidates who will run as independents, and we will strongly compete for all 120 party-based seats,” Qadri concluded. (see P.6)
