The legal committee that is devising the draft laws on the exercise of political rights and on the House of Representatives decided to introduce some amendments as regards the candidacy place, the insurance amount, the cost of campaigning and the duration of campaign halts.
The committee has allowed candidates to run in any constituency and not only that of their places of residence.
As to campaigning, the committee decided to reduce the amount for individual runners in the first round from LE1 million to LE500,000 and in the runoffs from LE1 million to LE200,000 in order to ensure equal opportunity.
It decided further that campaigning should stop 24 hours before the start of voting instead of two days, and that opinion polls should be conducted three days before voting instead of five.
The amendments cancelled the limitations imposed on professionals running in elections, except the article forbidding them from providing paid or unpaid consultation.
The committee welcomed any suggestions before sending the draft laws to the State Council to review.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
