Source: Middle East Institute
Author(s): Ahmed Morsy
Original Link: http://www.mei.edu/content/article/egyptian-parliamentary-elections-101
Long-awaited elections for Egypt’s parliament, which has been dissolved since 2012 as the result of a court order, have been scheduled in a two-phase process beginning this March. What will the process involve? Why are these elections important? Ahmed Morsy answers essential questions.
What happened to Egypt’s last parliament?
The last parliament, which was elected in three phases between November 2011 and January 2012, was dissolved in June 2012 by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) after Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court deemed the country’s electoral law unconstitutional. The court regarded the law as discriminatory because it allowed political parties to compete for seats designated for independents while not giving independents the same chance. Since June 2012, the executive authority—during the first period SCAF, then President Mohamed Morsi, followed by interim President Adly Mansour, and now President Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi—has been issuing legislation by presidential decree, with no legislative branch check on its power….
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