Presidential Constitutional Adviser Ali Awad held a meeting on Thursday with representatives of political groups including Wafd Party, Tamarod movement and National Salvation Front to agree on the new electoral system, according to which upcoming parliamentary elections will be held, ahead of issuing a law by Interim President Adly Mansour, sources said.
Sources referred to a partial agreement on the mixed electoral system which allocates 80 percent of the seats to single-winners and 20 percent to the list-based system. The 444 seats will be divided among constituencies like before with two seats at each electoral district for the single-winner. Another 111 seats will be added to the parliament making the total 555 seats.
Meanwhile, Ali Awad, the Constitutional Affairs Advisor to the President, denied in a press release that the presidency would approve allocating 80 precent of the seats to individual candidates and 20 precent to candidates’ lists.
No solution on implementing articles no 243 and 244 of the draft constitution were reached during the meeting, according to the sources. The first article states that workers and farmers should have appropriate representation in the first elected house of representatives after approving the constitution. The second one stipulates the appropriate representation for youth, Copts and the disabled in the first elected house of representatives in the law stated by law.
The sources claimed solutions were not reached as the two articles were indecisive regarding allocation of specific percentage for these categories. They also referred to confusion about the phrase ‘appropriate representation.’
The sources indicated the possibility of allocating seats for the five categories within the 111 seats and that two or more categories could be included in one seats like a Coptic disabled youth.
Awad also denied rumors of the interim government holding presidential election just days ahead of parliamentary election. “The president is looking into how to present the presidential elections after the completion of the referendum on the Constitution,” Awad said on Monday in a press release.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
