Egyptian Social Democratic (ESD) and Popular Current parties announced Tuesday they will not contest the list system seats in the upcoming parliamentary elections, protesting the amendments made to the electoral constituencies law, Al-Bawaba News reported. Chairman of ESD, Mohamed Abu El-Ghar said that his party rejects the proportional representation system adopted by the government for the party-list seats, however the party members are free to contest the list seats. Most political parties postponed announcing their position from the upcoming elections after "Eid al-Fitr" holidays. Earlier this week, the cabinet approved three draft election laws. In addition to the one ratified by Sisi on Thursday, the other two laws regulate the workings of the house of representatives and the exercising of political rights respectively. The amended law divides Egypt into 205 districts for individual candidates and four districts for party lists. The Parliament will now have 568 elected lawmakers, and only 20 percent will be voted in on the basis of a party list system. President El-Sisi has urged non-Islamist political parties to form a single electoral coalition capable of winning a majority in the upcoming parliament. The parliamentary elections, scheduled to be held before the end of 2015, is considered the last step in the political road map that was announced in July 2013 following mass protests against Mohamed Morsi's rule.
