The wheels of Egypt's long-delayed parliamentary elections have at last begun moving after the Supreme Election Committee (SEC) agreed in principle on the elections timetable, judicial sources told Al-Bawaba News Tuesday. SEC is expected to announce the final schedule for the upcoming elections following the inauguration ceremony of the new Suez Canal Corridor which will be held on Thursday. The elections were originally scheduled for March, but the Supreme Constitutional Court ruled that the laws regulating electoral process were unconstitutional. President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi has approved Wednesday amendments to two electoral laws regulating the parliamentary elections, paving the way for holding the last step in Egypt's road map. SEC began on Saturday accepting applications from civil society organizations and media outlets wishing to obtain permits to cover the polls. According to the SEC's spokesman Omar Marawan, the outlets and organizations seeking permits will be able to register with the committee from 21 to 25 August, while the permits will be given out from 26 to 30 August. Judicial source stated that SEC will likely open the door for candidates in the beginning of September, with expectations to adopt the same timetable previously released by the committee in January. According to the previous timetable, the coming parliamentary elections will be held in two rounds; the first round includes 14 governorates while the second one will include 13 governorates. According to the preliminary timetable, the deadline for candidates to deliver nomination papers to SEC will be September 12. During this period, the examination commission of SEC will decide the eligible candidates to run for the parliament. The following three days will witness the announcement of validly nominated candidates' lists. Then, the rejected candidates can appeal the committee's decision before the Administrative Court within three days. The court will rule in those appeals in a period of five days. Afterwards, the candidates of the first round will enter in electoral silence starting from Oct. 10 and for a period of 12 days. The first round of elections will last for four days from October 22 until 25.
