2015 Egyptian parliamentary election

2015 Egyptian parliamentary election

←  2011–12 17 October – 2 December 2015 2020  →
568 of the 596 seats in the House of Representatives 299 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	28.27%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Essam Khalil Mohamed Badran El-Sayyid el-Badawi Party Free Egyptians Nation's Future New Wafd Alliance FLE FLE FLE Last election 15 – 38 Seats won 65 53 36 Seat change 50 New 2   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Galal Haridy Hazem Omar Omar El-Mokhtar Semeida Party Homeland Defenders Republican People's Congress Alliance FLE Egyptian Front FLE Last election – – – Seats won 18 13 12 Seat change New New New
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 list	1st phase constituency		2nd 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)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Egypt coalition	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Al-Nour Party	No	Yes	Yes	No
Call of Egypt (Nidaa Misr)	Yes	No	No	No
Independent National Reawakening Bloc (al-Sahwa al-Wataneya)	Yes	No	No	No
Knights of Egypt (Forsan Misr)	No	Yes	No	No
Republican Alliance for Social Forces	No	No	Yes	No
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

Party		Seats
		FPTP	List	Total
	Free Egyptians Party	57	8	65
	Nation's Future Party	43	10	53
	New Wafd Party	27	8	35
	Homeland Defenders Party	10	8	18
	Republican People's Party	13	0	13
	Congress Party	8	4	12
	Al-Nour Party	11	0	11
	Conservative Party	1	5	6
	Democratic Peace Party	5	0	5
	Egyptian Social Democratic Party	4	0	4
	Egyptian Patriotic Movement	4	0	4
	Modern Egypt Party	4	0	4
	Freedom Party	3	0	3
	Reform and Development Misruna Party	3	0	3
	My Homeland Egypt Party	3	0	3
	Revolutionary Guards Party	1	0	1
	National Progressive Unionist Rally Party	1	0	1
	Free Egyptian Building Party	1	0	1
	Arab Democratic Nasserist Party	1	0	1
	Independents	251	74	325
Appointed members		–	–	28
Total		451	117	596

First phase

Party		Ideology	Candidates	Run-off candidates	% Reaching runoff	Votes	Seats
	Free Egyptians Party	Liberalism	111	64	56.63	1,009,083	41
	Nation's Future Party	Populism	89	64	51.68	702,965	26
	Al-Nour Party	Salafi Islamist	91	23	25.27	494,042	8
	New Wafd Party	National liberalism	77	21	27.27	392,138	16
	Republican People's Party	Populism	42	14	33.33	198,822	11
	Democratic Peace Party	Nationalism	57	8	14.03	155,847	1
	Congress Party	National liberalism	53	7	13.20	105,975	5
	Homeland Defenders Party	Populism	51	5	9.80	89,875	7
	Freedom Party	Liberalism	6	3	50.00	68,926	1
	Egyptian Social Democratic Party	Social liberalism	41	5	12.19	56,922	3
	Egyptian Patriotic Movement	Secularism	60	4	6.66	45,014	1
	My Homeland Egypt Party	Populism	20	3	15.00	29,971	1
	Modern Egypt Party	Liberalism	25	2	8.00	25,993	2
	Conservative	Conservatism	14	1	4.28	23,042	1
	Free Egyptian Building Party		11	1	9.09		1
	Leader Party		9	1	11.11		0
	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
Coalitions	Votes
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:

• Bread and Freedom Party ^[17]
• Building and Development Party ^[18]
• Civil Democratic Current (withdrew from the election for lack of funds) ^[19]
• Freedom Egypt Party ^[17]
• Homeland Party ^[20]
• National Conciliation Party (withdrew from the election) ^[21]
• Reawakening of Egypt (will not participate in the election) ^[22]
• Revolutionary Socialists ^[23]
• Social Justice Coalition (chose not to participate in the election) ^[24]
• Strong Egypt Party ^[17]
• Al-Wasat Party ^[25]

Rules for media coverage of elections by Supreme Electoral Commission

• Maintain objectivity and refrain from inserting personal views in news
• Deliver accurate information
• Refrain from using misleading titles or pictures unrelated to content
• Refrain from using vague designations
• It is strictly forbidden to ask voters who they will vote for
• It is forbidden to conduct polls and surveys in front of polling stations
• It is forbidden to phrase questions in a way that encourages a particular response
• Reporters must respect the right of reply ^[26]

References

1. "Timetable for Egypt's parliamentary elections announced; voting to start 17 Oct". Ahram Online. 30 August 2015. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
2. "في عهد السيسي..إصدار 263 قانونًا بدون برلمان اقرأ المقال الاصلى فى المصريون". Almesryoon. 4 July 2015. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
3. "Egypt votes in long-delayed parliamentary elections - BBC News". BBC News. 18 October 2015. Retrieved 2016-03-21.
4. "Egypt election committee to announce date for parliamentary poll Sunday". Ahram Online. 27 August 2015. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
5. Hessler, Peter (7 March 2016). "Letter from El-Balyana". New Yorker. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
6. Omar Halawa (6 October 2015). "Egypt's Upcoming Elections: A Primer". Atlantic Council . Retrieved 18 October 2015.
7. "Deadline for elections candidacy closes". Daily News Egypt. 12 September 2015. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
8. "Final push to the polls". Al-Ahram Weekly. 9 September 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
9. "'List of Egypt' threatens withdrawal from elections over legal complications for members". Daily News Egypt. 27 September 2015. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
10. "Egypt is approaching the final post 30-June democracy pillar". Daily News Egypt. 14 October 2015. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
11. "Campaigning begins Monday for second stage of Egypt's parliamentary elections". Ahram Online. 2 November 2015. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
12. "Elections countdown: 32 days HEC releases initial list of accepted candidates". Mada Masr. 16 September 2015. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
13. "Elections explainer: A map to the madness". Mada Masr. 16 October 2015. Archived from the original on 7 November 2015. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
14. "قراءة في نتائج المرحلة الأولى للانتخابات (2) - المصري اليوم". Al Masry Al Youm. 26 October 2015. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
15. "بوابة فيتو: ننشر إحصائيات الفائزين بـ"الفردي" و"الأحزاب" بنتائج المرحلة الأولى". Vetogate (بوابة فيتو). 30 October 2015. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
16. "For the Love of Egypt wins majority of expatriate votes". Mada Masr. 20 October 2015. Archived from the original on 21 October 2015. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
17. "Some aren't running, some are boycotting, and this is why". Ahram Online. 19 October 2015. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
18. "الرئيسية سياسة حزب البناء والتنمية: لن نشارك أو ندعم أى مرشح فى الانتخابات البرلمانية". Youm7. 23 September 2015. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
19. "Next parliament will be worst in Egypt's history: ESDP Secretary General". Daily News Egypt. 21 September 2015. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
20. "حزب الوطن يقرر عدم المشاركة فى الانتخابات البرلمانية". Shorouk News. 6 February 2015. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
21. ""الوفاق القومي" يعلن انسحابه من خوض الانتخابات البرلمانية". El Watan News. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
22. "Administrative court decides on parliamentary candidatures". Daily News Egypt. 23 September 2015.
23. "Egypt's Socialist Alliance boycotts elections, Constitution Party mulls its options". Ahram Online. 7 February 2015. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
24. "الانسحابات تسيطر على انتخابات "النواب".. و"الوطنى" ينافس "الوطنى"". Youm7. 14 September 2015. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
25. ""الوسط": هذا موقفنا من المشاركة في البرلمان اقرأ المقال الاصلى فى المصريون". Almesryoon. 11 September 2015. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
26. "Committee sets rules for media coverage of elections". Daily News Egypt. 10 January 2015. Retrieved 18 August 2015.