While political parties agree that laws specifying the electoral system and setting the boundaries for parliamentary electoral districts should be issued before Egypt's new president is elected next month they remain divided over which system should be used. According to article 230 of the new constitution procedures for parliamentary elections must start within six months of the ratification of the national charter. The constitution was approved on 18 January. Interim President Adli Mansour's legal and constitutional affairs advisor Ali Awad said on Monday that an ad hoc committee presided over by Minister of National Reconciliation Amin Al-Mahdi will be formed to conduct a national dialogue aimed at garnering a consensus over a new electoral system. A new law regulating the poll will be issued ahead of next month's presidential elections, said Awad. He denied allegations that Mansour has already agreed with a majority of political factions that a mixed electoral system, though one heavily skewed towards independent candidates, be implemented. Article 102 of the new constitution states the lower house of parliament — the House of Representatives — must comprise 450 deputies. The president is constitutionally authorised to appoint up to five per cent of sitting members. The majority of liberal and leftist forces want parliamentary polls to be based exclusively on party lists. Independent factions are pushing for the individual candidacy system. In 2012 parliamentary elections adopted a mix of the two, with two thirds of MPs selected via party lists and a third elected as independents. Secular groups argue open party lists will secure better representation than the 2012 poll and make it harder for the Muslim Brotherhood to sneak back into parliament. They cite a study conducted by Abdel-Ghaffar Shukr, head of the Socialist Popular Alliance Party, which showed that in 2012 the Muslim Brotherhood won 127 seats (35 per cent) of the 364 seats allocated to party lists and 105 (58 per cent) of the 182 seats reserved for candidates ostensibly standing as independents.” Shukr has proposed that Egypt be divided into 48 constituencies with each electing ten deputies on average. Liberal and leftist group insist an open party list system will combine the advantages of the individual and closed party systems, allowing citizens to vote for individual candidates from the lists rather than being forced to opt for a list in its entirety. More importantly, says Shukr, an open list system encourages voters to focus on the programmes being offered rather than the personality of candidates. Shukr's study found the individual candidacy system, which has dominated for 20 years, allowed tribal and family links, and wealthy business tycoons, to dominate. “The 25th January Revolution, which forced the corrupt regime of Hosni Mubarak out of power, is in desperate need of a new electoral system which does not mix politics with business and that leads to the proliferation of strong political parties with competitive platforms and programmes,” concluded Shukr. Mohamed Abu-Ghar, chairman of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, warns “a return to the individual candidacy system will deal a deafening blow to new secular political parties, not to mention helping the diehards of Mubarak's defunct ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) to sweep the coming parliament”. Officials of the Wafd party, Egypt's oldest political party, strongly favour open party lists. “The implementation of the party list system in 2012 helped several political parties gain considerable number of seats in parliament,” says Al-Wafd chairman Al-Sayed Al-Badawi. In the 2012 parliament Al-Wafd won 38 seats (7.5 per cent), its best result in 20 years. The strongest advocates of the open list system are the secular political parties that emerged after the 25th January Revolution and which are desperate to boost their quota of seats in the coming parliament. “These forces fear the coming parliament will be swamped by forces loyal to the Mubarak regime and the Muslim Brotherhood, two groups expert in manipulating the individual candidacy system,” says Shukr. Hala Shukrallah, Chairman of the Constitution Party, Ahmed Said, Chairman of the Free Egyptians Party, Hussein Abdel-Razek; Deputy Chairman of the leftist Tagammu Party and Salah Adli, Chairman of the Egyptian Communist Party, all support open lists. The same political forces have asked Mansour to ensure “the decisions of the Parliamentary Election Commission (PEC) tasked with overseeing the upcoming parliamentary polls not be immune to appeals”. “All candidates have the right to appeal PEC's decisions,” says Shukr, “and anyone currently facing trial but who has not been convicted of any crimes should have the right to stand in the parliamentary elections.” “Article 74 of the new constitution which bans the formation of political parties with a religious foundation must be strictly implemented,” he adds. Secular political parties urging Mansour to amending the election laws also insist he must take articles 243 and 244 of the new constitution into account. The two articles oblige the authorities to ensure that workers, farmers, the young, Copts and the disabled are adequately represented in parliament. On the opposite side of the fence a number of independent political parties and movements are urging Mansour to scrap the party list system altogether. The Independence Current, comprising those political parties set up since 2011 consisting mainly of former members of Mubarak's NDP but also including the min rump of Tamarod, recommends that the next parliament be chosen from independent candidates. Ahmed Al-Fadali, chairman of the Democratic Peace Party, told Al-Ahram Weekly that “the open list system will allow the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist factions to infiltrate parliament”. “While the designation of the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization makes it difficult for higher profile members to exploit the individual system to run as independents they will use the open list to present members as candidates of legal Islamist parties such as Al-Wasat and the Gamaa Islamiya's Reconstruction and Development Party,” warned Al-Fadali. Al-Fadali also argues that the individual system is much easier for citizens to understand.
