The Egyptian government announced on Wednesday that it is willing to amend the law on the parliamentary elections scheduled for next November, in response to requests from opposition political forces and revolutionary movements.
However, the government has insisted on keeping the 50 percent allocation of parliamentary seats to workers and the other 50 percent to farmers, as stipulated by that law.
The military council passed a law in July regulating parliamentary elections, acknowledging that half the members of parliament should be elected on an individual basis, and the other half on a proportional closed-list basis.
The cabinet has also agreed to amend certain provisions of the law on political rights, which was issued in May, to stiffening penalties for electoral felonies, such as refraining from voting without excuse, obstructing poll station supervisors while doing their job, and prejudicing the safety and integrity of the elections. Penalties vary between imprisonment, fines or both.
The government issued a statement, saying that the amendments aim to deter those tempted to commit such crimes, and empower the head of the Supreme Elections Committee to disqualify votes cast as a result of such crimes.
