Following a spate of contradictory statements by officials Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb has intervened, announcing that preparations for parliamentary elections will begin in a month. Mehleb told the pan-Arab satellite channel MBC Masr that a law redrawing the boundaries of election districts, the last obstacle before elections can be held, will be issued within three weeks. “A technical committee has been formed to take charge of finalising the law so preparations for the polls can begin,” he said. The committee will coordinate with government ministries to ensure the final draft of the law complies with the new constitution. Article 102 requires that electoral districts strike a balance in terms of area and population. Headed by Minister of Transitional Justice and House of Rrepresentatives Affairs Ibrahim Al-Heneidi, the committee includes Mehleb's advisor for security and election affairs; the deputy justice minister for legislative affairs; deputy interior minister for legal affairs; deputy minister of local development for election and legislative affairs; Ain Sham University professor of constitutional law Ali Abdel-Aal and Al-Mansoura University professor of public law Salaheddin Fawzi. Once the draft is finalised it will be reviewed by the State Council's Department of Legislation and Fatwas, endorsed by the cabinet and then ratified by president Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi. “These steps are necessary to guarantee the law complies with the constitution and the polls do not face legal or constitutional challenges,” said Mehleb. Al-Heneidi told parliamentary reporters on 16 October that the technical committee, which began meeting this week, would not be working from scratch. “A committee was formed by former president Adli Mansour and it went a long way in preparing the law,” said Al-Heneidi. “But after President Al-Sisi was elected and three more governorates were created it became necessary to form a second technical committee.” “The work of the new committee will focus mainly on fixing the boundaries of electoral districts in the new border governorates of Al-Alamein, Al-Wahat and Middle Sinai where existing districts will need to be merged to ensure their population across constituencies.” Al-Heneidi stressed that political parties should not be alarmed by the delay in holding parliamentary elections. “We have to make sure that once the polls are held and a new parliament is formed there can be no grounds for anyone to doubt its legality.” On 15 October Mehleb met with representatives of the Democratic Current, led by 2014 presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahi. An umbrella grouping of leftist and liberal revolutionary forces, the Current includes the Constitution, Al-Karama and Socialist Popular Alliance Parties. The meeting is part of an initiative aimed at creating common ground between the government and all political forces ahead of the polls. “I am holding meetings with a range of political forces and revolutionary youth movements to reassure them that there is no hesitation about completing the political roadmap adopted since the 30 June Revolution on the part of President Al-Sisi and the government,” said Mehleb. Mehleb, says an informed source, is keen to stress the government is not in any disagreement with civilian political forces. “It only opposes those that resort to terror, sow sedition and have set themselves against Egypt's national interests,” he said. Under the timetable Mehleb has set out, parliamentary polls will be held ahead of the economic conference planned for February next year in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh. “We want the polls to go ahead before the conference to send the world a strong message that Egypt is completing its democratic process and moving towards complete stability,” Mehleb was cited as saying. Ahmed Al-Borai, a former Minister of Social Solidarity and a founder of the Constitution Party, told journalists that the Current used the meeting with Mehleb to voice its objections to the election laws. “We asked that the House of Representatives law be amended to raise the number of seats open to party list candidates from 120 to 180, and reduce those reserved for independents from 420 to 360. The figure of 27 seats reserved for presidential appointees can be maintained.” “The current law discriminates against political parties and the changes we suggested will help strike a balance,” said Al-Borai. “Allocating a third of seats to political parties will help guarantee that groups like Copts, women, workers and farmers, young people and the handicapped are more fairly represented on party lists.” The Current also asked that the stipulation in the election law that a party list gain more than 50 per cent of votes per district before winning a seat be scrapped in favour of proportional representation. Al-Borai told journalists Mehleb had suggested a memo including all of the recommendations be submitted to the technical legislative committee. According to Al-Borai Mehleb proposed intensive dialogue with the technical legislative committee on all recommendations prepared by the Current and other political coalitions before any final drafts are ratified by the president. “The objective of this dialogue is to achieve consensus ahead of the polls rather than allowing them to become a source of political discord and division,” said Al-Borai.
