CAIRO: Six presidential candidates privately met on Tuesday evening to discuss the possibility of amending parliamentary and presidential election laws and establishing new electoral districts. The discussion comes amid debates over parliamentary election procedures. Although parliamentary elections grow near, official election policy still remains undecided in Egypt. Hamdeen Sabbahi, Abdel Moneim Abou Fotouh, Hazem Abou Ismail, Mohamed el-Baradei, Mohamed Selim el-Awa and Amr Moussa attended the discussion, which was the first meeting of its kind. On Tuesday, The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) announced the possibility of changing election laws and electoral districting, although the terms remain vague. Many Egyptian activists remain unhappy with the proposed system for parliamentary elections. According to the new system, 50 percent of seats will be allocated based on a system of individual candidacy, and another 50 percent will be allocated based on a system of proportional party lists. Activists seek to change election procedures, expressing a preference for a system that is entirely based on the proportional party list vote. “We are trying to pressure the Council to change the law. We support a 100 percent proportional party list, where women account for at least one third of the seats,” said Afaf Marei, the Executive Director of Mosharaka, an Egyptian election-monitoring NGO. “The individual candidacy system will only support businessmen and former NDP candidates who use fraud and bribery,” she added. The individual candidacy system was used by the regime of former President Hosni Mubarak. It helped to skew parliamentary votes to the favor of Mubarak's National Democratic Party, she and others argue. As it currently works, the system is particularly culpable to corruption and vote buying. Those who ousted the former regime hope for a more transparent system. Parliamentary elections were slated for this month, however they were postponed. Most expect that parliamentary elections will take place sometime this fall. According to Egyptian law, the date of an election or referendum must be officially announced thirty days before the date of the election. The SCAF has not yet decided whether People's Assembly and Shura Council elections will take place on one day or in stages. They will announce a decision on the matter in late September. If ambiguities about the election process continue, though, many fear that candidates will not have enough time to organize their campaigns or become well versed in new election rules. Controversy over election procedures heightened this week when authorities announced that the state's emergency law would not be repealed until June of 2012. Some opposition groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Freedom and Justice Party, said that they would not allow elections to take place while emergency law is in force. The stakes are high for Egypt's forthcoming parliament. According to the constitutional changes approved in last March's referendum vote, the parliament elected this fall will be responsible for forming a 100-person Constitutional Assembly within 6 months of office. The Constitutional Assembly was granted the responsibility of drafting Egypt's next Constitution within 6 months of office. BM
