2015 Egyptian parliamentary election

Last updated
2015 Egyptian parliamentary election
Flag of Egypt.svg
  2011–12 17 October – 2 December 2015 2020  

568 of the 596 seats in the House of Representatives
299 seats needed for a majority
Turnout28.27%
 First partySecond partyThird party
  3x4.svg 3x4.svg El-Sayyid el-Badawi.jpg
Leader Essam Khalil Mohamed Badran El-Sayyid el-Badawi
Party Free Egyptians Nation's Future New Wafd
Alliance FLE FLE FLE
Last election1538
Seats won655336
Seat changeIncrease2.svg 50NewDecrease2.svg 2

 Fourth partyFifth partySixth party
  3x4.svg
Leader Galal Haridy Hazem Omar Omar El-Mokhtar Semeida
Party Homeland Defenders Republican People's Congress
Alliance FLE Egyptian Front FLE
Last election
Seats won181312
Seat changeNewNewNew

Speaker of the House before election

Vacant

Elected Speaker of the House

Ali Abdel Aal
FLE

Egyptian parliamentary elections to the House of Representatives were held in two phases, from 17 October to 2 December 2015. [1] The elected parliament will be entrusted with the task of reviewing the laws that were passed while a parliament was not in session. [2]

In preparation for the election, security was tightened across the country with at least 185,000 troops supporting police, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi made a televised appeal for Egyptians to vote, and in mid-October, public sector employees were given half a day's holiday to encourage them to take part. The strikingly low turnout, in some areas close to only 10%, with "many angry at the government and its policies", was widely regarded as a set-back for the administration and a success for calls to boycotts from oppositional movements. [3]

Electoral system

The parliament is made up of 596 seats, with 448 seats elected through the single member districts, 120 elected through party bloc vote in which party list should win 50%+ votes to win all seats however if no list achieved the threshold, a second round held between top two parties and the list with the most votes wins. Party list contain quotas for youth, women, Christians, and workers. Single member districts consists of 1-member district, 2-member districts, 3-member district and 4-member districts, winner should win 50%+ of the votes, if no one achieved the threshold a second round held between top candidates (candidates number should be the double of contested seat number) and the candidate with the most votes wins. In addition, 28 are selected by the president. [4] The government commission that set the rules for the 2015 parliamentary elections drastically reduced the number of "list seats" (candidates who shared party affiliations or other alliances, and whose ranks had to include people under the age of thirty-five, women, Christians, and other traditionally underrepresented groups) from the 2011 election." [5]

Procedure

First phase: Upper Egypt & West Delta

In the first phase, elections were held from 17 to 28 October 2015 in the fourteen governorates of the Upper Egypt and West Delta regions, namely the governorates of Giza, Fayoum, Beni Suef, Minya, Asyut, New Valley, Sohag, Qena, Luxor, Aswan, Red Sea, Alexandria, Beheira, and Matruh.

For these governorates, the first round of elections took place on 18 to 19 October for Egyptian residents, while it took place on 17 to 18 October for Egyptian expatriates. Runoffs were held on 27 to 28 October for Egyptians residents, and on 26 to 27 October for Egyptian expatriates. [6]

Nominations started on 1 September, [1] and lasted until 12 September (with the exception of the Qena and Qoss districts, which were extended until 15 September), [7] though candidates had until 15 September to submit the necessary medical tests. [8] Campaigning for the first phase started on 29 September [9] and ended on 15 October. [10]

Second phase: Central and East Delta

In the second phase, elections took place from 21 November to 2 December 2015 in the remaining nine governorates of the Central Delta and East Delta regions, namely the governorates of Cairo, Qalyubia, Dakahlia, Monufia, Gharbia, Kafr el-Sheikh, Sharqia, Damietta, Port Said, Ismailia, Suez, North Sinai, and South Sinai.

For these governorates, the first round of elections took place on 22 to 23 November for Egyptian residents and 21 to 22 November for Egyptian expatriates. Runoffs were held on 1 to 2 December for Egyptian residents, and on 30 November to 1 December for Egyptian expatriates. [6]

Campaigning started on 2 November and ended on 20 November 2015. [11]

Candidates

On 16 September, the High Elections Committee announced the initial list of accepted candidates. While nine electoral lists were accepted, five more lists were rejected, including two of the three lists of the Egypt coalition (Egyptian Front & Independent Current Coalition) as well as the lists of Upper Egypt's Voice, Call of Egypt and Knights of Egypt. [12] After appealing to court, all rejected lists but the one by Upper Egypt's Voice were admitted. The final list of candidates for the first phase was announced on 28 September. [6]

A total of 7 electoral lists are contesting the 120 fixed-list seats available in the four regional constituencies:

Accepted electoral lists
Name of the list1st phase constituency2nd phase constituency
North, Center & South Upper Egypt Division Constituency
(45 seats)
West Delta Division Constituency
(15 seats)
Cairo, South & Center Delta Division Constituency
(45 seats)
East Delta Division Constituency
(15 seats)
For the Love of Egypt (Fi Hob Misr)YesYesYesYes
Egypt coalitionYesYesYesNo
Al-Nour Party NoYesYesNo
Call of Egypt (Nidaa Misr)YesNoNoNo
Independent National Reawakening Bloc (al-Sahwa al-Wataneya)YesNoNoNo
Knights of Egypt (Forsan Misr)NoYesNoNo
Republican Alliance for Social Forces NoNoYesNo
Source: Mada Masr [13]

In the first phase, 2,573 individual candidates contested in 226 individual seats. Many parties are fielding individual candidates both on joint electoral lists and contesting the list-based seats. [6]

Results

2015 Egyptian Parliamentary election results.svg
PartySeats
FPTP ListTotal
Free Egyptians Party 57865
Nation's Future Party 431053
New Wafd Party 27835
Homeland Defenders Party 10818
Republican People's Party 13013
Congress Party 8412
Al-Nour Party 11011
Conservative Party 156
Democratic Peace Party 505
Egyptian Social Democratic Party 404
Egyptian Patriotic Movement 404
Modern Egypt Party 404
Freedom Party 303
Reform and Development Misruna Party 303
My Homeland Egypt Party 303
Revolutionary Guards Party 101
National Progressive Unionist Party 101
Free Egyptian Building Party 101
Arab Democratic Nasserist Party 101
Independents25174325
Appointed members28
Total451117596

First phase

PartyIdeologyCandidatesRun-off
candidates
% Reaching runoffVotesSeats
Free Egyptians Party Liberalism 1116456.631,009,08341
Nation's Future Party Populism 896451.68702,96526
Al-Nour Party Salafi Islamist 912325.27494,0428
New Wafd Party National liberalism 772127.27392,13816
Republican People's Party Populism 421433.33198,82211
Democratic Peace Party Nationalism 57814.03155,8471
Congress Party National liberalism 53713.20105,9755
Homeland Defenders Party Populism 5159.8089,8757
Freedom Party Liberalism 6350.0068,9261
Egyptian Social Democratic Party Social liberalism 41512.1956,9223
Egyptian Patriotic Movement Secularism 6046.6645,0141
My Homeland Egypt Party Populism 20315.0029,9711
Modern Egypt Party Liberalism 2528.0025,9932
Conservative Conservatism 1414.2823,0421
Free Egyptian Building Party1119.091
Leader Party9111.110
Other/Independents ----
Total

[14] [15]

Expatriates

The results for expatriate voting during the first phase were announced on 20 October 2015. [16]

Results for expatriate voting during the first round
CoalitionsVotes
For the Love of Egypt 15,529
Call of Egypt 3,076
Egypt 2,969
Independent National Reawakening Bloc 1,403

Boycotts

A number of parties boycotted the election, claiming that the process was unfair. These included the following:

Rules for media coverage of elections by Supreme Electoral Commission

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