Although Muslim Brotherhood leaders have repeatedly stressed they would not take part in any electoral process following the army's forced removal of former President, and Brotherhood leader, Mohamed Morsi on 3 July, sources inside the group said they were actually considering presenting a number of unknown candidates to assure they remained politically present. Probably aware of this possibility, a judicial committee assigned by former Egyptian Interim President, Adly Mansour, to draft the parliament law, tailored it in a way that would make it difficult for Islamists to restore the over 70 percent majority they enjoyed in the only parliament elections held after the 25 January, 2011, Revolution that ended the 30-year rule of former President Hosni Mubarak. While Brotherhood candidates came first with 43 percent of the seats, they were surprisingly followed by the Salafist Nour Party, that adopts a more strict interpretation of Islam, with 25 percent of the seats. Al-Nour was previously unknown, and Salafists had generally boycotted elections under Mubarak. Mansour had already delivered an emotional farewell speech to mark the end nearly one year in office in which he largely played a ceremonial role before handing over power to newly elected, former defense minister, President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sissi on June 8. However, hours after the speech, Mansour issued scores of legislations, topped with a new parliament election law that was widely criticized by political parties, seeing it as a major setback for any hope to build a genuine democratic, pluralistic system. The former president was clearly aiming at handing his successor a clean slate, and chose to issue the controversial law himself. After Al-Sissi sided with popular demonstrations a year ago demanding the removal of Morsi, the country's first democratically elected president after the ousting of Mubarak in a popular revolution on 25 January, 2011, the former army chief announced a Road Map in order to rewrite the Constitution, and restore an elected parliament and president. However, the difficulty to reach an agreement on an election law that satisfied the secular parties that supported Morsi's removal was among the main reasons that led to amendment of the Road Map, introducing presidential elections first before parliamentary. A 50-member committee that was tasked with rewriting the 2012 Constitution, drafted by the Brotherhood and its Islamist supporters during Morsi's short, one-year in office, failed to agree on an election system, mainly on whether to allocate the majority of the over 500 seats in parliament to candidates named by political parties, known as the party-list system, or to individual, independent candidates who depend mostly on their wealth, family ties or allegiance to the single, ruling party headed by the president as Egypt has experienced over the past 62 years. Citing mainly the ongoing "war against terror", the daily anti-government demonstrations by Brotherhood supporters, and claims that the Egyptian voter is more familiar with the individual system, the new election law devoted nearly 80 percent of the 567-parliament seat to the independent candidates. Meanwhile, 120 seats will be filled according to the lists' system, which could be formed by either political parties or individual candidates, on condition that they have to include a reasonable number of women, Coptic Christians, youth, workers, peasants, representatives of Egyptians living abroad and people with disabilities. The four lists would be won according to the majoritarian system, meaning the party that wins 50 plus one of the votes, gets all the seats on the list. Several political parties that came out after Mubarak's removal, as well as older parties such as Al-Wafd, issued statements sharply criticizing the law, and asked Al-Sissi to use his power to issue legislations and amend the law. They insisted that the seats determined through the lists should be won according to proportional system, dividing the seats according to the percentage each party won, and not the 50 plus winner takes all. Parties such as Al-Dostour, the Egyptian Socialist Democratic Party, Al-Tayar Al-Shaabi (or Popular Trend) led by, Hamdeen Sabahi, the only presidential candidate that stood up against Sissi, the Socialist Popular Alliance, Al-Karama Party and others, said the complicated election system would only lead to the creation of a parliament similar to those that existed under Mubarak, giving automatic approval to the president, and failing to perform its duties in monitoring government activities, its spending, and issuing legislations that would guarantee social and political rights. With little sources of income and sharp attacks against them by supporters of the former Mubarak regime who saw in Morsi's removal a chance to make a comeback, the new post-25 January Revolution secular parties said the individual system would only allow wealthy political religious parties, rich businessmen with ties to the Mubarak regime, and traditional candidates with strong family and tribal ties to win seats in parliament. They demanded that at least 50 percent of the parliament seats should be filled through the party-list system, allowing voters to choose their candidates on the basis of their parties' political program, and not individual ties or wealth. Yet, Al-Sissi is not expected to respond to demands by opposition parties. During one of many television interviews he gave during his election campaign, he said he personally preferred the individual system, and that it could take between 20 and 25 years to reach a Western-style democracy in which political parties peacefully exchange power. In many other statements, Al-Sissi implied political and human rights are not his top priority, compared to fighting terrorism, improving the economy and providing jobs. During a recent meeting with a group of British member so of parliament he said the West could help in improving human conditions in Egypt by relieving its debts or building new universities. Although the Brotherhood and other Islamist parties performed well in the individual system in previous elections, namely because they have the money and a network of social services, security bodies tend to believe that having individual candidates would allow them bigger control on who could stand a chance to enter parliament, amid a wide crackdown against the Brotherhood leaders, including seizing their financial assets that allowed them to perform well in previous elections. At times of confrontation with former President Mubarak, the Brotherhood nominated little known candidates and ask their bulk of supporters to vote for them. They would later declare their belonging to the Brotherhood when they succeed in elections. But amid the current police crackdown, and infiltration of the Brotherhood ranks, it will be more difficult for the experienced group to follow the same tactic this time, security sources said. While the new Constitution Egyptian approved six months ago gives wide powers to the parliament, including the appointment of the prime minister, most observers believe that Al-Sissi prefers to have a friendly parliament that would rubber stamp his decisions, and not one that could cause him trouble. That's why he's unlikely to respond to opposition demand, leaving them with the tough job of seeking to build alliances that could help them in winning a few parliament seats. "This election law is clearly a setback to any hope to building a true democracy here in Egypt," said Abdel-Ghaffar Shokr, president of the Popular Socialist Alliance Party, and Deputy President of the National Human Rights Council, whose members were appointed by former Interim President, Mansour. "We will see a parliament that would seek to restore Mubarak's network of corruption and business interests, and win favors from the president, and not a parliament that would issue legislations that promote human and social rights, or monitor the government and its spending," he added.
