CAIRO - Today's legislative election is one of three polls taking place in the Arab world's most populous state this year and next. It follows a June election for the Upper House of the Parliament known as the Shura Council. Apresidential election is due next year, but no date has been set.President Hosni Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) swept the Upper House vote, and it is expected to win most seats in the Lower House, as it has done for decades. Although the results will be no surprise, the process is being watched to see how much space the authorities give the Muslim Brotherhood and other opposition groups before the presidential vote. Mubarak, 82, has not said whether he will run again and has no designated successor if he does not. The Shura Council election The Shura Council consists of 264 seats, one third of which is appointed by the President. The other two thirds are elected in two separate blocs of 88 each. Opposition parties and independents secured just eight of the 88 seats up for grabs in the partial election in June. The Muslim Brotherhood won no seats despite fielding 13 candidates. The group skirts a ban by running independents. Officials put turnout at 30 per cent of eligible voters, but rights groups said it was no more than half that. Turnout was low, partly because constituencies are larger than those for the Lower House and because few Egyptians pay much attention to who represents them in the Upper House. The Shura Council reviews laws before handing them to the Lower House, or People's Assembly, for final approval. Legislative polls As in the Upper House, the majority of Lower House seats are held by the ruling National Democratic Party. In 2005, the Muslim Brotherhood secured an unprecedented 88 seats of the assembly's 454. Since then, the authorities have increasingly squeezed the Brotherhood out of mainstream politics, frequently detaining senior leaders and other members. As a result, the Brotherhood has said it does not expect to repeat its 2005 performance. In today's vote, 508 seats will be contested and 10 will be allocated by the President. The next legislature will have more seats because 64 have been added specifically for women candidates. Women already hold some seats. Presidential vote Egypt held its first multi-candidate presidential election in 2005, ending a practice of referenda for a single candidate. The 2011 vote will probably be in the second half of the year. Mubarak, in power since 1981, won the 2005 race easily. He has no vice president, the post he held before he became president, and has no clearly designated successor. Opposition claims that if he does not run, his son, Gamal, 46, a senior official in the NDP, is likely to do so ��" claims vehemently denied by both Mubaraks. Former UN nuclear watchdog head Mohamed ElBaradei has said he might run for president. But his campaign for the necessary constitutional and other political changes has fizzled. The Constitution says an independent needs support from 250 elected representatives spread across both houses of Parliament and local councils. The ruling party dominates all these. ElBaradei has said he will not join an existing party. The rules effectively exclude a run by the Brotherhood, whose leaders have said the group does not plan one anyway, according to Reuters.
