Changes to two key laws regulating the upcoming parliamentary elections are at the top of the agenda of all the country's political forces, reports Gamal Essam El-Din The youth movements of the 25 January Revolution have embarked upon organising a million-man demonstration in Cairo's iconic Tahrir Square tomorrow, Friday 9 September. The rally, to be held under the title "Friday of Returning to Course," will focus on pressuring the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) to scrap recent amendments to laws regulating elections to the two houses of the Egyptian parliament, the People's Assembly and the Shura Council, and the distribution of electoral districts. Many forces, particularly secular and liberal movements, believe that the amendments were imposed by the SCAF without listening to their demands and that they serve Islamist groups and diehards of ousted former president Hosni Mubarak's defunct former ruling National Democratic Party (NDP). On 4 September, a leaked copy of a law drawing up new electoral districts angered most political forces, who agreed that the new law would make it more difficult for people to vote and for candidates to organise election campaigns. The law, jointly drafted by the government of Prime Minister Essam Sharaf and the SCAF, complements another parliamentary elections law that made half of the seats in both houses be decided via a party list system and the other half by individual candidacy. The two laws set the number of MPs in the People's Assembly at a total of 504, plus another 10 to be appointed by the president. This is up from the 454 members of the last People's Assembly. Under the laws, the assembly's 504 MPs will be elected from 126 districts covered by the individual candidacy system and 58 covered by the party list system. The 126 districts will produce 252 MPs, or two per district. The remaining 58 districts will produce another 252, with the number of MPs elected in each district ranging from four to six. The law charting the new electoral districts also makes a distinction between large and small governorates. In a governorate like Cairo, it sets out seven districts to be covered by the party list system, with four MPs per district. This will produce 28 MPs. It also sets out a further 14 districts to be covered by the individual candidacy system, or two MPs per district. This will produce another 28 MPs. In total, Cairo will be represented by 56 MPs under the new laws, up from 50 in previous assemblies. However, the laws also make the size of the districts covered by the party list system much bigger than those contested under the individual candidacy system. In Cairo, this means that three large districts from the north, Shubra, Al-Sahel and Road Al-Farag, will be merged with Zawiya Al-Hamra from the east and will be represented by just four party based MPs. By contrast, a small governorate like Aswan will include only two districts to be covered by the individual candidacy system and represented by four MPs, and a further one district to be covered by the party list system and represented by another four MPs. Regarding the upper house of parliament, the Shura Council, under the new laws its members will rise from 264 to 390, a third of them presidential appointees. The council's MPs will be elected from 93 districts, 65 of which will be covered by the individual candidacy and 28 by the party list system. The 65 districts will produce 130 MPs, or two per district. The 28 districts covered by the party list system will produce a further 130 members, their number ranging from four to six per district. The new design of the electoral districts has angered most political forces in the country, who have accused the SCAF of ignoring their demands, while also not abolishing the individual candidacy system altogether. Individual candidacy was blamed for the proliferation of electoral fraud, vote buying and intimidation under the regime of ousted former president Hosni Mubarak. A statement from the Democratic Alliance including 36 political parties, along with the Muslim Brotherhood and the Wafd, had earlier argued that maintaining the individual candidacy system would see the return to parliament of the same officials and corrupt businessmen that dominated the Mubarak regime's National Democratic Party. The new law has only poured oil on the fire, as not only has the SCAF ignored calls to abolish the individual candidacy system, but it has also decided to go ahead with announcing new lists of electoral districts and timelines for the upcoming elections. An informed source announced on 3 September that registration for the upcoming parliamentary elections will begin on 27 September, and SCAF officials have announced that the elections will probably be held in November. Mamdouh Shahin, the SCAF's legal adviser, has said that October will be devoted to campaigning and that the elections will be held over three stages. In response, many of the country's political forces, especially secularist-oriented ones, have cried foul, saying that the SCAF is trying to impose its will on the country's political life by unveiling the new draft law of the electoral districts. Essam Shiha, a lawyer and Wafd Party activist, said that "not only has the SCAF kept the individual candidacy system in place, but its draft electoral districts law has made it difficult for candidates, especially those belonging to newly-formed parties, to compete in the elections." "It makes the size of districts covered by the party list system very large, thus making it difficult for candidates from a particular party to compete, since they will be forced to extend their campaigns to cover very large areas in different places with no geographical relationship between them," Shiha said, adding that "in North Cairo, for example, the four candidates of each competing party will be forced to campaign in an area including no fewer than five million citizens." Shiha also said that, "in a time of a security vacuum, it will be dangerous to hold the elections for the People's Assembly and the Shura Council on the same day. This means that citizens will be exposed to two kinds of election campaigns for the first time on the same day, and they will be expected to elect a large number of MPs all on one day." According to the new law, when voters go to the polling stations on election day they will be faced with two lists of candidates, one for the People's Assembly and one for the Shura Council. These lists will include candidates running as individuals and those running on a party ticket. Diaa Rashwan, a political analyst at Al-Ahram, said that "the organisation of the elections to both the People's Assembly and the Shura Council on the same day will make the voting process very complicated and cumbersome." "As the number of registered voters has risen to be as high as 50 million people, it will be almost impossible for even a third of this number to vote for two houses of parliament in one day." Rashwan believes that the new electoral district law is intended to help wealthy businessmen and the diehards of Mubarak's defunct NDP to return to parliament, as well as candidates supported by the Muslim Brotherhood. Most of the country's liberal and secular forces are against the SCAF's political and electoral roadmap. Nasser Abdel-Hamid, a member of the Coalition of the 25 January Revolution, said that tomorrow's rally in Tahrir Square was intended to exert pressure on the SCAF and try to stop it imposing its will on the country's political life. "This is the style of rule used by the Mubarak regime, and it has to be changed," Abdel-Hamid said. Members of the 6 April Youth Movement have also voiced criticisms of the new laws. "This will deprive the youth and the new political forces that have joined the political scene of the ability to campaign and gain the confidence of voters," said Mahmoud Afifi, a spokesman for the 6 April Youth Movement. Afifi added that the laws "give leverage to remnants of the former regime to use their money and corrupt methods to sweep the elections." For their part, the Islamist forces, especially the Muslim Brotherhood, have refused to comment on the laws, insisting that a leaked copy of the electoral districts law "is not an official one". However, the Islamists have said that they are ready to contest the elections in November "and that there is no reason for delay". Prominent member of the Brotherhood Essam El-Erian said that "the group's Freedom and Justice Party in coordination with the Democratic Alliance will announce a unified position on the new electoral districts law." Cabinet sources refused to comment on the leaked copy of the law, stating that the official draft was still a matter of discussion between the government and the SCAF. SCAF member Mamdouh Shahin has previously argued that organising the People's Assembly and Shura Council elections on the same day will help provide security and will reduce costs.
