Egypt's interim government approved a controversial bill organizing parliamentary candidacy on Wednesday. The government has made some amendments to the bill, which is expected to be submitted to the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF). The latter will decide whether to activate it or add additional amendments. According to the new amendments, parliamentary elections will be conducted using a combination of the list-based candidacy and single winner system, with each method accounting for half the seats. Some political forces believe that the government failed to consider reservations experts have voiced over the bill, which SCAF proposed for public debate in June. Mohamed Hegazy, adviser to the minister of foreign affairs, said the amendments will allow electoral lists to include candidates from more than one party, to allow emerging parties to form coalitions that enable them to win a higher number of votes. According to the proposed law, the new parliament will include 500 members, half of whom will be elected through list-based candidacy, while the other half will be elected a single-winner system. Fifty percent of the seats will be devoted to workers and peasants, as the law stipulates. The minimum age for nomination has also been lowered from 30 to 25. An initiative embraced by 18 political parties - including the liberal Wafd Party, the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, Wasat Party and the Salafi Nour Party - had called for withdrawing the bill. The parties said in a statement that the bill was at odds with demands by political groups to adopt list-based candidacy for all legislative seats. Translated from the Arabic Edition
