On 27 April 2010, President Hosni Mubarak issued a decree calling elections for half of the 176 directly elected members (88) in the Shoura Assembly. The 264-member Shoura Assembly also comprises 88 appointed members, half of whom are renewed every three years at the same time as the elections.
In the previous elections (June 2007), the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) swept 87 of the 88 seats at stake. The Tagammu Party (National Progressive Unionist Grouping) took the remaining seat. Following the 2007 elections, the NDP controlled a total of 245 seats in the Shoura Assembly. The remaining seats were held by small parties and independents.
President Mubarak (NDP), who has been in power since 1981, has not announced whether he will stand for a sixth term in 2011. The Emergency Law in force since 1981 (which gives the State broad powers to detain suspects without charge) was not lifted before the 2010 elections.
A total of 452 candidates were vying for seats in 2010. They included 115 candidates representing the NDP and 12 other political parties, the rest being independent candidates. 11 women were candidates. More opposition parties fielded candidates in 2010, apparently with a view to meeting the requirement to field a presidential candidate (see note). The opposition remained fragmented as the country's three main opposition parties - the Wafd, the Tagammu party and the Arab Democratic Nasserist Party - failed to form an electoral coalition. The three backed a total of 20 candidates. Eight other opposition parties backed an additional 25 candidates.
The Muslim Brotherhood (MB), a fundamentalist movement founded in 1928, officially backed 14 independent candidates. They included three members of the People's Assembly, the other House of Parliament, who were considered to be strong rivals to NDP candidates. The MB has been officially banned since 1954 following an assassination attempt on the then President, Gamel Abdel Nasser. None of the 19 candidates backed by the MB was elected to the Shoura Assembly in 2007. However, MB-backed candidates had won 88 seats in the 454-member People's Assembly in 2005, becoming the largest opposition force. The media focused on whether the MB would fare well in the Shoura Assembly elections as a foretaste of the elections to the People's Assembly due in late 2010.
President Mubarak pledged to organize free and fair elections. The NDP campaigned under the slogan "For You". It pledged to introduce unemployment insurance, raise salaries by 30 per cent, expand social insurance programmes for the poorest families, improve public services and support democratization. The NDP list included three Coptic candidates and one woman. Mr. Saftwat el Sherif, the President of the Shoura Assembly and NDP Secretary General, promised voters the NDP would work to promote the interests of the State and the rights of citizens.
The MB called for constitutional amendments with a view to more democratic parliamentary and presidential elections. Posters with its slogan, "Islam is the solution", were reportedly removed by the police. The High Elections Commission said that the campaign posters were removed because they mixed religion with politics. The MB said that its candidates faced growing hostility in the run-up to the elections and that some 40 of its members were detained during the campaign.
The Tagammu Party of Mr. Sayed Abdel Al pledged to introduce democratic reforms and abrogate the Emergency Law. Another opposition party, the Tomorrow Party (Al-Ghad, founded in 2004 by dissidents from the Wafd party), called for voter support so that it would be able to field a presidential candidate in 2011.
The MB and the Wafd Party accused the NDP of vote rigging, an allegation which the NDP dismissed.
In the first round of the elections, on 1 June, 30.8 percent of some 8 million eligible voters turned out at the polls. The NDP won 74 seats, including 14 uncontested seats. Four opposition parties - Al-Ghad, the Tagammu party, the Arab Democratic Nasserite Party and Jil (Generation) - won one seat each.
The run-off elections for the remaining ten seats were held a week later. The final results gave 80 seats to the NDP. The remaining seats went to four independent candidates close to the NDP and four opposition parties which took one seat each. The MB-backed candidates failed to win parliamentary representation.
On 23 June President Mubarak appointed 44 members, including eight Copts and 11 women.
On 24 June the newly elected members were sworn in alongside the members appointed by President Mubarak. Mr. Saftwat el Sherif, the sole candidate for the post, was re-elected as President of the Shoura Assembly.
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:
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 measure 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 ten years as of 1 May 2007. Independent presidential candidates have to be endorsed by at least 250 members of parliament and local councils. |
A historical Archive of past election results for this chamber can be found on a separate page