CAIRO: The National Democratic Party's (NDP) policies committee proposed a new law increasing the number of seats occupied by women in the People's Assembly (PA) to at least 56 seats. The seats will not be assigned but are to be contested by female candidates in elections. The NDP proposed that in some selected areas only female candidates can compete against each other to guarantee that the winner will be a woman. The NDP is still discussing locations where only female candidates can run for the PA's elections, Gamal Mubarak, chairman of the NDP's policies committee, said at a press conference Monday. Mubarak explained that the proposed law will ensure that female MPs acquire a set quota of the total number of seats in the PA, amounting to at least 11 percent. Mubarak added that the new draft law will be discussed in the current parliamentary session in order to be implemented in the upcoming legislative elections of 2010. However, the law did not allocate a number of seats for any other group such as Copts, Mohamed Kamal, NDP spokesman, said at the press conference. Kamal explained that Copts will not be granted special privileges because they are part of the Egyptian community as a whole that is governed by equal citizenship rights. NDP MP Georgette El-Qelliny told Daily News Egypt that she expects the new law to be implemented in the Shoura Council, Upper House of parliament, as well. "One third of Shoura Council members are assigned and not elected, according to the council's bylaws, so it is very easy to allocate a set percentage of female representation, El-Qelliny said. She also indicated that a female quota in various legislative and local councils does not violate the Egyptian constitution, but rather reinforces it. "Paragraph two of Article 62 of the Egyptian constitution, which was amended in 2007, indicates that women should get fair representation in both the PA and Shoura Council, El-Qelliny said, adding that she has been proposing a draft law for eight years, to make it obligatory for all political parties to allocate at least 15 percent of seats for women in the PA, the Shoura Council as well as local councils.
