A new law aimed at regulating Egypt's upcoming presidential elections is expected to be issued 1 March, a week earlier than expected. A judicial council should likely finish revising the law in the next few days and then submit it to interim President Adly Mansour, who is expected to officially endorse and issue the law on 8 March, said Magdy El-Agaty, deputy chairman of the State Council and its affiliated Fatwa and Legislation Department. The 59-article law was passed to the council on 17 January to be revised in legal and constitutional terms. The council has since held two meetings which were attended by Ali Awad, Mansour's legal and constitutional affairs advisor, in a bid to reach agreement on several controversial articles. Mansour was expected to issue the law on 18 February. El-Agaty released a public statement on Wednesday indicating that the council and Mansour's legal team had reached a settlement over the articles, including article 7, which opened up the results of presidential elections to appeals from both politicians and citizens. Following amendments to the article, candidates and citizens will still be allowed to file appeals against the election results, but only within two days of the official announcement from the Presidential Election Commission (PEC), the five-member judicial body tasked with supervising the upcoming presidential polls. The Supreme Administrative Court will then evaluate the appeals and issue a final verdict within two days. El-Agaty said that the amended process allows scrutiny of the election results without "flooding" the PEC will appeals. It also ensures that the results can be announced without facing judicial challenges, he said. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/95318.aspx
