Egypt's ruling military council is expected to endorse the new elections law on Tuesday, after having returned it to the cabinet last Saturday for review, according to military sources. The law is expected to allocate two thirds of parliamentary seats to list-based candidacies, and one third to the single-winner system, as opposed to the previous equal allocation to the two systems, which drew criticism from political forces. Abdel Moez Ibrahim, president of the High Elections Committee, said he would explain how the committee would supervise the elections once the new law has been announced. “We were not involved in preparing the law,” he said. More than 25 political parties have rejected the new law, insisting on the allocation of all seats by the list-based system. The Democratic Coalition, which includes 40 other parties, said it would announce its position on Wednesday. The parties had also requested that the criteria for choosing the founding constitutional committee be announced before the elections, order in the streets to be restored, the Treachery Law be announced and members of the dissolved National Democratic Party be prohibited from running in the elections. “The new law is worse than the old one,” said Wahid Abdel Meguid, head of the Democratic Coalition's elections coordination committee. “It allows political parties to circumvent it.” “It's a setback for the revolution,” said Wafd Party President al-Sayed al-Badawy. “It gives a better chance to the members of the dissolved ruling party than those of the newly-formed parties after the revolution.” “There would be no majority in parliament under that law because independent winners are not allowed to join parties,” said Azab Mostafa, leading member of the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party. ”No one would win more than 30 percent.” “The law opens the door for the remnants of the former regime to control parliament,” said Adel Afify, president of the Salafi Al-Asala Party. Tarek al-Zomor, spokesman of the Jama'a al-Islamiya, said the new law may reduce the chances of Islamists winning a majority, but added that they are still strong enough to win. Translated from the Arabic Edition
