Egypt parliamentary elections to begin on November 28
Author: Nehal El-Sherif
Cairo (dpa) - Egypt is to hold parliamentary elections, the first to be held in the country since the ouster of president Hosny Mubarak, as of November 28, the country's military rulers said Tuesday.
The polls for the lower house of parliament will take place over three stages, with each stage covering nine constituencies.
The second and third stages are slated for December 14 and January 3 respectively. Run-offs are to be held by January 10.
The first session of the new parliament will be held on March 17.
Elections for the Shura Council, or upper house, are set to start on January 29 and end by March 11. The first session of the upper house is scheduled for March 24.
The set dates represent a one-week delay from the timeframe proposed by the High Election Commission chief last week, when he proposed November 21 to March 4 for holding the polls.
Egypt's ruling military council, which has held power since ousting Mubarak in February, has been under increasing pressure to set a date for elections for the promised transition to democracy.
The council also announced a new electoral law that establishes the distribution of electoral constituents. It also allocates two-third of parliamentary seats to a party list system and the last third to individual candidacy.
The lower house, or People's Assembly, will have 498 seats, while the Shura Council will comprise 270 seats.
The law says half of the seats in each house will be contested by workers and peasants. Moreover, each party must have at least one female candidate on its list.
Individual candidates must be independent and must not join a political party as long as they are in parliament.
Following the parliamentary elections, a committee will be set up to draft a new constitution for the country and will have around six months to finish its work.
Presidential elections will take place after the constitution is finished.
In the last parliamentary election, in November, Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party won nearly 90 per cent of the vote.
Parliament was dissolved after Mubarak stepped down on February 11.
