Egypt's cabinet is expected to endorse a final draft of a long-awaited law aimed at redrawing the country's electoral constituencies, in line with the new constitution. Minister of Transitional Justice and House of Representatives Affairs Ibrahim Al-Heneidi told parliamentary reporters this week the cabinet was expected to endorse the electoral constituencies law on 19 November. It had given provisional approval to the draft on 12 November. The law — the final piece in the political roadmap announced following the removal of Mohamed Morsi — must be in place before parliamentary elections can be held. The draft was prepared by a seven-member technical committee, comprising judges, legal experts and professors of law, formed a month ago by Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb. Under the draft law party-based candidates will compete in four constituencies. “The 120 deputies drawn from party lists will stand in four constituencies. Two will return 45 deputies each, the other two 15,” said Al-Heneidi. Though Al-Heneidi provided no details of these mega-constituencies informed sources say Greater Cairo, the most densely populated area of the country, is likely to return 60 MPs. Setting the boundaries of the seats reserved for the 420 independent candidates specifies in the House of Representatives Law proved more contentious. “The committee was divided,” said Al- Heneidi. “Some members argued that the old administrative system which identified 246 constituencies should be more or less retained. This would have had the advantage that all necessary data — including population density — was available or could be easily updated.” “The problem was that because of varying population densities some constituencies would be represented by a single MP while others could return up to three. This could potentially lead to legal challenges on the grounds that the law is discriminatory and therefore unconstitutional.” A second camp supported the drawing of 420 constituencies each of which would return a single MP. The technical committee, said Al-Heneidi, was keen to ensure that border governorates and new communities be fairly represented in parliament. To this end new border constituencies will be created to represent areas bordering the Red Sea, Halayeb and Shalateen, Nubia and Kom Ombo. Egypt and Sudan both claim Halayeb and Shalateen. Egypt formally annexed the area in 1994 despite objections from Khartoum. ”The committee's overriding concern was to ensure the new law conforms to article 102 of the new constitution passed in January,” said Al-Heneidi. Article 102 requires equality of representation in parliament between all citizens. In an interview with Al-Ahram on 16 November, Al-Heneidi appeared to hint the second camp had won the argument and the draft law would delineate 420 constituencies reserved for independents. Following cabinet endorsement, the draft law will be passed to the State Council's Department of Legislation and Fatwas which is responsible for reviewing the constitutional and legal terms employed in new legislation. Three laws will regulate the parliamentary polls: the electoral constituencies' law, the House of Representatives law and the political rights law. Article three of the house law specifies parliament will comprise 567 seats, with 420 allocated to independents, 120 reserved for party-based candidates and 27 for presidential appointees. Political parties complain the government has dragged its feet over law, causing long-awaited parliamentary polls to be postponed until the first quarter of 2015 at the earliest. Gamal Zahran, a professor of political economy at Suez Canal University and chairman of the Social Justice Electoral Alliance, told Al-Ahram Weekly that although he had reservations about the division of seats between independents and party lists it was not a reason to boycott the poll. “We do believe, though, that the electoral constituencies law must be put to a national dialogue to ensure it gains consensus and does not face constitutional challenges that might impact on the legality of the coming parliament.” Political parties that emerged following the 2011 Revolution want the number of seats reserved for political parties to be increased from 120 to 180 and the first past the post system, which demands a party list gain 50 per cent of votes per district to gain any seats, be scrapped in favour of proportional representation. Zahran also fears electing one independent per district could be ruled unconstitutional. “The norm in Egypt has been that two independents are elected per constituency. To elect just one independent per constituency means you must guarantee equality among constituencies in terms of the area covered and the number of registered voters,” says Zahran. “If an independent candidate finds his constituency is larger in size and contains more voters than another he could take the matter to the Supreme Constitutional Court.” In a series of meetings with leaders of political parties Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb said that the new electoral constituencies law will be subject to a national dialogue while it is being reviewed by the State Council's Department of Legislation and Fatwas. “Once it gains the okay from the Council and a consensus among political parties it will be sent to president Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi for ratification.” Polls are expected to be held over three stages, each including nine governorates. President Al-Sisi told an American business delegation last week that Egypt's parliamentary polls are expected to kick-off in the first quarter of 2015. A statement by presidential spokesperson Alaa Youssef, cited Al-Sisi telling the delegation that preparations for parliamentary polls will all be in place before the International Economic Summit Egypt is due to host on 15 March.
