IPU PARLINE database: EGYPT (Majlis Al-Chaab), Elections in 2010

Parliament name

-

Structure of parliament

Bicameral

Chamber name (generic / translated)

Majlis Al-Chaab / People's Assembly

Related chamber (for bicameral parliaments)

Majlis Ash-Shura / Shoura Assembly

Dates of election / renewal (from/to) (from/to)

28 November 2010
5 December 2010

Purpose of elections

Elections were held for all the directly elected seats in the People's Assembly on the normal expiry of the members' term of office.

On 20 October 2010, President Hosni Mubarak called elections to the People's Assembly for 28 November. They were the first to be held since legislative amendments in June 2009 raised the statutory number of members of the People's Assembly from 454 to 518. The amendments created 64 seats for women, while 10 others (up from eight) are appointed by the President.

In the previous elections held in November and December 2005, President Mubarak's National Democratic Party (NDP) won 320 of the 442 directly elected seats. The National Front for Change (NFC) - an opposition coalition comprising 12 opposition parties and the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) - took a total of 96 seats: 88 independent candidates backed by the MB, six representing the New Wafd Party (NWP) and two from the National Progressive Unionist Grouping (Tagammu) were also elected. The remaining seats went to 26 independent candidates close to the NDP.

In the June 2010 elections to fill half of the 176 directly elected seats (88) in the Shoura Assembly (the upper chamber), the NDP took 80 seats and four independent candidates close to the NDP were elected. Four opposition parties took one seat each. The MB-backed candidates failed to win seats in that chamber.

Since its inception in 1978, the NDP has been the dominant political party in Egypt, controlling over two thirds of the seats in the People's Assembly. The MB, Egypt's largest Islamist organization founded in 1928, has been officially banned since 1954 following an assassination attempt on the then President Gamel Abdel Nasser. However, under the current Constitution, its members are allowed to run for election as independent candidates.

In February 2010, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mr. Mohamed ElBaradei, launched a campaign calling for change. Proposed reforms included an end to emergency rule (in place since 1981, see note 1), judicial oversight of elections and repeal of constitutional provisions on the conditions for presidential candidates (see note 2). Prior to the 2010 elections to the People's Assembly, his activists collected over 100,000 signatures for the electoral reforms and the MB, which joined the campaign, collected 65,000.

In September, Mr. ElBaradei urged all opposition forces to boycott the elections to the People's Assembly, alleging that election fraud was highly likely to occur. Former presidential candidate, Mr. Ayman Nour (see note 3), announced that his Tomorrow Party (Al-Ghad) would boycott the elections, although some of its factions did field candidates. The NWP, for its part, announced that it would participate in the polls. MB leader, Mr. Mohammed Badie, also announced that his party would take part in the elections, and encouraged people to "oppose injustice through votes".

In 2010, 5,181 candidates were vying for the 508 seats at stake. The NDP alone endorsed 763 candidates. The major opposition parties included the NWP, which fielded 168 candidates; the National Progressive Unionist Grouping (Tagammu, 66 candidates) and the Nasserist Party (also known as Nasirite Arab Democratic Party, 31 candidates). In addition, 135 MB-backed independent candidates declared they would be running. A dozen others were disqualified. Furthermore, 380 women stood for the 64 reserved seats for women.

82 year-old President Mubarak - re-elected for a fifth term in 2005 - pledged to ensure free and fair elections. The government did not agree to the presence of any international observers.

The NDP pledged to promote economic development through a free market economy, enhance the transparency and accountability of governing institutions and encourage political participation by creating opportunities for political parties.

The NWP - led by business tycoon Mr. El-Sayed El-Badawi since May 2010 - also advocated a free market economy. It pledged to abolish restrictions on the formation of political parties and impose a limit on the number of presidential terms.

The National Progressive Unionist Grouping (Tagammu), led by Mr. Rifaat al-Saeed, vowed to end emergency rule and amend the Constitution to guarantee judicial supervision of elections. The Nasserist Party, led by Mr. Diaeddin Daoud, pledged to reverse the free market reforms implemented by President Mubarak and to restore an economic system based on socialist principles.

In Egypt, the use of religious slogans in election campaigns is banned. Shortly before the polling, 11 MB members were sentenced to two years in prison for handing out MB leaflets with the slogan "Islam is the solution". In all, over 1,200 MB supporters were arrested while campaigning or in clashes with police in the run-up to the first round.

In October, the country's telecommunications regulator set new rules for companies sending text messages (SMS) to multiple mobile phones, obliging them to obtain licences. Egypt's main satellite operator shut down 12 private television channels on grounds of violating the terms of their broadcasting licences. The NWP criticized the media clamp-down.

According to the Higher Election Commission, 34.95 per cent of the 40.1 million registered voters turned out at the polls, while opposition parties argued that only 10 per cent turned out.

In all, 221 candidates secured the required majority to be elected in the first round. The NDP took 209 seats. Seven independents and five opposition candidates - including two NWP candidates - were elected. No MB-backed candidates were elected although 27 advanced to the run-off elections.

Several protests and clashes were reported on polling day. Many opposition parties claimed vote rigging, citing multiple voting and the use of intimidation tactics against their supporters. The MB and the NWP urged the government to cancel the polls. The Higher Election Commission recognized that some violations had taken place during the first round of the elections, but reiterated that those incidents did not undermine the electoral process as a whole.

Both the MB and the NWP subsequently announced that they would withdraw their candidates from the run-off elections. The Higher Elections Commission held that withdrawing candidates beyond the deadline was "illegal" and the withdrawing candidates would be considered as having been defeated. Several NWP candidates contested the run-off elections as independents.

Several MB-backed candidates filed appeals with the Administrative Judicial Court (lower court, the AJC), asking it to declare the results of the elections null and void on grounds of vote rigging. Multiple circuits of the AJC ordered the announcement of the election results be halted. On 5 December, the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC), the highest administrative judicial body in Egypt, issued seven rulings, including the halt of run-offs in Matareyya, Cairo.

The Higher Elections Commission put the turnout for the run-off at 27.47 per cent.

The NDP took 427 of the 512 seats at stake. The opposition parties took a total of 16 seats. The remaining 69 seats went to independent candidates, many of whom are reportedly close to the NDP. In all, 64 women were elected under the reserved seats and one was appointed by the President.

The execution of all the SAC rulings would have affected 184 seats of the 508 directly elected seats (thus leaving 324 elected members), whereas article 87 of the Constitution stipulates that the number of elected members of the People's Assembly must be at least 350. Considering that the elections had failed to elect the minimum number of members, the SAC invalidated both rounds of the elections and ordered that new elections be held. The Higher Election Commission dismissed the SAC decision and declared that the elections had been transparent and had reflected the will of citizens.

On 13 December, the newly elected People's Assembly held its first session and re-elected Mr. Ahmed Fathy Sorour (NDP) as its Speaker.

On 14 January 2011, street protests forced Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali to flee the country. The move of protests against the Government spread to several countries in the region, including Egypt. On 25 January, street protests demanding the resignation of President Mubarak started in several cities in Egypt. On 28 January, President Mubarak dismissed several ministers including the interior minister. He appointed intelligence chief Omar Suleiman as Vice President, and former air force commander Ahmed Shafiq as new Prime Minister. However, the protestors continued to demand the President's immediate resignation, mobilizing over one million people in Cairo. Speaker Sorour said the parliamentary election results would be "corrected" accordingly to court decisions expected shortly.

On 1 February, President Mubarak announced that he would not seek a new mandate in the presidential elections due in September 2011. Speaker Sorour promised constitutional amendments to revise articles 76 (allowing the re-election of the president for further successive terms) and 77 (stipulating the presidential candidacy requirements). Anti-Mubarak demonstrations nevertheless continued, clashing with pro-Mubarak supporters.

After 18 days of mass protest, on 11 February, Vice President Suleiman announced that President Mubarak had handed over power to the Egypt Supreme Council of Armed Forces (ESCAF), chaired by Commander-in-Chief and Defense Minister, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi. On 13 February, the ESCAF suspended the Constitution and dissolved Parliament, promising to call elections within six months. The ESCAF also announced that it would set up a committee to draft a new Constitution.

On 19 March, 41.19 per cent of some 18.5 million registered voters turned out at a constitutional referendum and 77.2 per cent of them approved the new Constitution. Parliamentary elections are now expected to take place in September 2011, prior to presidential polls in November.

Note 1:
The Emergency Law was introduced following the assassination of President Anwar el-Sadat in 1981. It allows the authorities to make arrests without charge, detain prisoners indefinitely, limit freedom of expression and assembly, and maintain a special security court. In May 2010, the People's Assembly approved the government's request to extend the Emergency Law by two years. The government explained that the Law would be used only in cases of terrorism and drug trafficking.

Note 2:
Under the constitutional amendments approved by a referendum in March 2007, political parties wishing to field presidential candidates must account for at least 3 per cent of the elected members of both the People's Assembly and the Shoura Assembly. However, the 2007 amendments contained an exceptional provision allowing political parties that obtained at least one seat in either the People's Assembly or the Shoura Assembly in the most recent elections to field a candidate in any presidential elections to be held within 10 years as of 1 May 2007. Independent presidential candidates have to be endorsed by at least 250 members of parliament and local councils.

Note 3:
Mr. Nour, then a member of the People's Assembly, was stripped of his parliamentary immunity and arrested in January 2005. In December 2005, he was charged with forging signatures to register his party and was sentenced to a five-year prison term. He was released in February 2009 on health grounds.

Voter turnout

Round no 1

28 November 2010

Number of registered electors
Voters
Blank or invalid ballot papers
Valid votes

40'160'799
14'036'937 (34.95%)

12'278'139

Notes

Round no 2

5 December 2010

Number of registered electors
Voters
Blank or invalid ballot papers
Valid votes

29'109'107
7'995'022 (27.47%)

7'774'199

Distribution of seats

Round no 1

Round no 2
Political Group	Total
National Democratic Party (NDP)	427
Independents	69
New Wafd Party (NWP)	7
National Progressive Unionist Grouping (Tagammu)	5
Jil (Generation)	1
Social Justice Party	1
Democratic Peace party	1
Tomorrow Party (Al-Ghad)	1

Distribution of seats according to sex

Men
Women
Percent of women

447
65
12.70%

Distribution of seats according to age

Distribution of seats according to profession

Comments

In all, 64 women were elected under the reserved seats and one was appointed by the President.
Source: People's Assembly (17.01.2011)

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