The Supreme Electoral Commission (SEC) said in a press conference Thursday that a total of 2,847 candidates will be competing over 222 individual seats in the second phase of parliamentary elections scheduled for 21, 22 and 23 November. According to SEC spokesperson Omar Marwan, a total of 28,204,225 voters are registered, and nearly 15,000 judges will be supervising over 12,000 local polling stations. "They are rushing to go to Sinai," Marwan was quoted saying by local press, assuring parliamentary elections will be smooth in North and South Sinai. The SEC will announce the final list of individual candidates on 12 November, after all appeals are reviewed by the court. Elections will take place for Egyptians abroad on 21 and 22 November, and in Egypt on 22 and 23 November. Runoff elections will be held from 30 November to 2 December. The governorates of the second phase are Cairo, Qaliubiya, Daqahleya, Gharbeya, Menufiya, Kafr El-Sheikh (Cairo constituency), and North and South Sinai governorates, Damietta, Ismailia, Sharqeya, Suez and Port Said (East Delta constituency). For the closed-lists system, there should be two elected lists, one with 15 members for the East Delta constituency and one with 45 members for the Cairo constituency. In East Delta, only ‘For the Love of Egypt' electoral list run by Sameh Seif El-Yazal is participating in the elections, setting the bar high in order to become a winner of votes, as the list must obtain at least 5% of the total votes. Other competitors are Al-Nour Party list, the Republican Alliance led by Tahany El-Gebaly, The Egyptian Front Coalition and Tayyar Al-Istiqlal, with 45 members each. The SEC will even design a special voting card for the constituency, in which voters would be asked to mark their choices by accepting or rejecting the list. This comes as one of the long awaited parliamentary tasks is the review of laws and legislations that have been issued by the executive power post 30 June, according to constitutional Article 156 which stipulates: "If the House of Representatives has not been elected, the President of the Republic may issue decrees having the force of law, provided that they are then presented to, discussed and approved by the new House of Representatives within fifteen days from the commencement of its session. If such decrees are neither presented nor discussed by the House, or if they are presented but not ratified thereby, their force of law shall retroactively be revoked without need for issuing a decision to that effect, unless the House confirms its effectiveness during the previous period or decides to settle the consequences thereof." But Ali Abdul Al, a winning parliamentary candidate from the first phase in the governorate of Qena on ‘For the Love of Egypt' list, told the press as he registered at the parliament that "decrees issued by Adly Mansour, the former interim president of post 30 June, and current President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi will not be reviewed by the new parliament". In statements published by state media MENA Thursday, Abdul Al argued that the constitutional article applies to "normal circumstances where the parliament is on vacation or temporary suspended for new elections, and that the previous phase was a period of parliament freeze and therefore does not apply". He added that, in case of disputed constitutional views, a committee of the parliament will decide on the issue.
