The final report of the results of the follow-up to the parliamentary elections in Egypt 2015

The ball is in the people's court

 

Introduction:

This is the final report issued by the “Parliamentary Election Observatory”, which is one of the mechanisms of the Maat Foundation for Peace, Development and Human Rights related to the follow-up to the parliamentary elections (Egypt 2015), in which the door for candidacy was opened on the first of September and the polling phase was held in two stages during the period from October until December 2015

The Foundation has followed up all the procedures of the electoral process, whether the legislative frameworks and the process of their amendment, the candidacy stage, then the electoral campaign, as well as the performance of the parties to the electoral process, which is the election supervising body, the state's executive bodies, parties, lists and independent candidates.

Parliamentary elections gain their importance from the importance of the stage in which Egyptian society is experiencing, as Egypt entered into a transitional and foundational phase to build a democratic system since July 3, 2013 in response to the demands of the revolutionary wave that Egypt witnessed on June 30, 2013, as the Egyptian national forces agreed on a package of measures that were considered as a road map for the transitional phase. Which was represented by the removal of former President Mohamed Morsi, amending the Egyptian constitution, which did not enjoy acceptable consensus, and holding early presidential elections and free and fair parliamentary elections.

Indeed, the Egyptian people approved their new constitution, which is a major shift in the promotion of rights and freedoms, after a popular referendum that took place in January 2014 and ended with the approval of 98.1% by voters on the new constitution

Then the presidential elections came as the second step in the roadmap, which is the third pluralist presidential elections in the history of Egypt and the second presidential elections after the January 25 revolution. The elections that were held in May 2014 witnessed high participation rates compared to the Egyptian electoral history, and took place in a free and fair atmosphere, and ended with victory. The current president, Mr. Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, has an overwhelming majority.

And here is the third and final entitlement of the Road Map that ends with the end of the run-off round of the second phase of the 2015 Parliament elections, when the electoral process concluded with 555 seats out of the 568 allocated seats that were filled by direct election - leaving 13 seats in four districts that are contested and their seats will be decided in a separate election process that ends in December 20, 2015.

In general, the parliamentary elections were conducted in a manner that is broadly compatible with the standards of freedom and integrity, as they did not contain negative influential interference by the state and its agencies, and there were no restrictions and impediments placed on the right to run for office or the right to vote, despite differences over the form of the electoral system and the emergence of some negative practices from Some of the candidates, however, this did not have a tangible effect on the final results of the electoral process and the extent to which it represented the balance of political power on the ground, as well as the votes of the voters in the ballot boxes that were decided in the end, as the ball was in the people's court and not the state’s court as it was prevalent before January 2011. .

The legislative framework organizing the 2015 parliamentary elections

Parliamentary elections were conducted based on three main laws: 

1- The Law Regulating the Exercise of Political Rights, which was promulgated by the President of the Republic's Decree of Law 45 of January 18, 2014, and its amendments issued by the President's Decree in Law No. 92, which was issued on June 29, 2015, which is entrusted with regulating the rights of voters and candidates and the organization and powers of the body supervising elections, as well as Organizational procedures for the nomination, publicity, polling and counting stages.

2- The House of Representatives law, which was promulgated by Presidential Decree No. 46 on June 5, 2014, and its amendments issued by the President's Decree in Law No. 92, which was issued on June 29, 2015. Which regulates the number of parliament members, the voting system, the number of individual seats, and the number of seats allocated to the lists, The law also defines conditions for candidacy for council membership, electoral qualities, rights and duties of council members, and the internal regulations for council workers

3- The Circuit Division Law issued by the President of the Republic Decision Law No. 202 of December 21, 2014 regarding the division of Parliament departments and its amendments issued by the President's Decree Law No. 88 issued on July 9, 2015. It is intended to divide the republic geographically and define the boundaries of electoral districts geographically according to the population masses for the individual system and also for the lists system

Problems of laws and their amendment:

The two laws on dividing districts and exercising constitutional rights were challenged before the Supreme Constitutional Court, which issued a ruling nullifying Article Three of the District Division Law, which in turn led to the suspension of parliamentary elections based on this ruling on the first of March 2015, and the political arena witnessed that many parties welcomed the ruling , As the parties saw this ruling as a step to amend the laws related to parliamentary elections and to avoid any constitutional anomaly that hinders the completion of the electoral process, and after this ruling, the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt - Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi - directed the formation of a committee to undertake the process of amending the law dividing districts, then the president of the Council On March 2, ministers issued Decision No. 470 of 2015 to form a committee to prepare a draft decision on the law dividing the electoral districts of Parliament.

In general, there was a state of dissatisfaction among most of the parties with assigning the task of amending the law to the same committee that set it, and although there were no objections challenging the commission’s impartiality and integrity, the summary of the objections made by the political parties represents a challenge to the “competence” of the committee and its ability. To implement the law in accordance with the ruling of the Constitutional Court, and in return some Egyptian parties made proposals to the supervising committee to amend the law on division of circles.

From March 2015, three sessions of dialogue took place between the government, in the presence of the Prime Minister and a number of political parties, on amendments to laws regulating parliamentary elections. Numerous discussions were held about the parliamentary elections, and 75 parties participated in the community dialogue sessions.

What actually happened is that the committee charged with amending the election laws made amendments to the three laws that regulate the electoral process, represented in the House of Representatives elections, the division of electoral districts, and the exercise of political rights, in light of the rulings issued by the Supreme Constitutional Court, foremost of which is the increase in the number of seats in the House of Representatives for the individual system. With the preservation of 120 seats in the list, bringing the total number of House seats to 596 after adding the 51 TP1T, which is the percentage of those appointed. The amendments also included a special amendment to the Egyptian nationality requirement, so that the nationality is not required to be single.

Based on these amendments and before their issuance, the parties of the so-called Democratic Current (which include parties: Dignity, Justice, Freedom Egypt, the Popular Alliance, and the Constitution) decided not to participate in the absolute lists and to participate in running for individual seats.

After the issuance of amendments to the laws, legal problems followed the parliamentary elections, as lawsuits rained down on the administrative courts in the various governorates, calling for the elections to be halted for several reasons. These reasons vary between what is personal, for not accepting nomination papers for certain persons, and some are public that threatened to suspend or postpone the elections as a whole, to challenge him with legal texts, and to refer them to the Supreme Constitutional Court, in preparation for their cancellation. It was not accepted or transferred to the Supreme Constitutional Council for consideration.

The Supreme Committee supervising the elections was exposed to a legal dilemma regarding the medical statements of the candidates, after numerous lawsuits against its decision to validate the results of the old statements made by the candidates in February 2015 (before the postponement of the electoral process), in the event that the candidates themselves decided to run in the elections, due to the possibility of the candidates being exposed. Because of diseases that prevent them from performing their representative duty during this period, in addition to the possibility of the appearance of traces of drugs and alcohol in the samples taken from them after about 7 months. The Administrative Judicial Court issued a court ruling canceling the Supreme Committee’s decision, which resulted in extending the period of acceptance of medical examination papers for an additional three days, to enable candidates to undergo new medical examinations.

The body supervising the electoral process

The Law Regulating the Exercise of Political Rights No. 45 of 2014 stipulated in Article No. 4 the formation of the Supreme Committee for Elections headed by the President of the Cairo Court of Appeal and the membership of two deputies from the Court of Cassation, the two oldest deputies to the President of the State Council, and the two most senior presidents in Cairo's courts of appeal. Reserve in consideration of seniority. After notifying the heads of the judicial authorities to the Minister of Justice of the names of the selected representatives, the President of the Republic issued a decision to form the Supreme Committee for Elections based on the proposal of the Minister of Justice, and the Supreme Committee for Elections shall specialize in the following: Issuing the regulations governing its work, the General Secretariat, and the committees stipulated in the law regulating the exercise of political rights

1- Expressing opinion on draft laws related to legislative elections

2- Supervising the registration in the voter database, updating it, amending it and cleaning it periodically

3- For legislative elections, taking into account the cases stipulated in the constitution, to invite voters

4- Determining election dates and setting a schedule for them

5- Laying down all the rules and procedures for the conduct of the electoral process and the referendum, in a way that guarantees the integrity, impartiality and integrity of the procedures

6- Setting controls for moving to electronic or electronic voting in stages

7 - Developing and implementing a system for identifying the symbols indicating the candidates in the elections, provided that this system is neutral and guarantees equality and equal opportunities.

8- Authorization for Egyptian civil society organizations, or foreign or international bodies and the media, to follow the conduct of the elections and referendums, and the Supreme Committee may determine these organizations according to their main licensed activity

9 - Forming the general and subsidiary committees stipulated in the law regulating the exercise of political rights and determining their headquarters

10- Appointing original and reserve trustees in the general and subsidiary committees

11- Issuing the necessary decisions to maintain order during legislative elections and referendums

12- Announcing the results of the election or referendum

In general, the Supreme Elections Commission was characterized in its performance by adhering to the judicial rulings issued and dealing with them quickly, reflecting a great degree of concern for the completion of the electoral process. The committee’s decisions also came in line with the judicial rulings issued, which revealed “the availability of the required level of independence of the judicial authority that is necessary for the integrity of the electoral process.

 The dealings of judges and employees with the electoral process were very good, and we did not monitor any cases of directing by the judiciary within the committees, with the exception of some cases that were monitored about the delay in opening some committees as a result of the late arrival of some judges or the occurrence of some altercations between supporters of the candidates and judges or between voters and judges. Or the refusal of a few judges or officials to help some elderly, disabled or illiterate voters to choose, which led to them leaving the ballot paper blank.

According to the objective conditions set by the Supreme Elections Committee, it has issued decisions ensuring that organizations working in the field of election follow-up, human rights and democracy support to follow up on parliamentary elections. This follow-up includes all monitoring, observation and observation of all candidate registration procedures, electoral campaigning, polling, counting, and announcing a result in accordance with the following conditions

1 - To be publicized in accordance with the Associations and Institutions Law No. 84 of 2002 and its implementing regulations

2- To be of good reputation, known for its impartiality and integrity

3- She must have previous experience in the fields of election follow-up

The Supreme Election Commission granted follow-up permits to 81 local and 6 international organizations. It also granted 63 foreign embassies on Egyptian soil written permits to follow the electoral process.

The position of state agencies

The recent legislative elections witnessed complete neutrality of the state towards all candidates, and its interference was limited to: -

First: Managing the insurance process, which was at the level of responsibility, and we noted the security forces ’keenness to preserve the safety of citizens, the conduct of the electoral process and non-interference in the conduct of the polling, which was evident in the security forces’ intervention to resolve the limited skirmishes and altercations that occurred in front of the committees, and not to allow these The altercations affected the course of the process, and the insurance forces showed great professionalism in arresting some supporters of the candidates who were directing the voters, trying to influence them either through verbal or financial guidance.

Second: The state’s executive agencies ’handling of these violations was positive - except with minor exceptions - and consistent with the neutrality that should characterize their performance towards candidates, which was represented in the positive role of the localities in removing the early advertisements that some candidates and parties had made since the door for candidacy was opened until The legal dates to start the advertising period.

In general, the state’s performance has been characterized by “positive and neutral” in a manner consistent with internationally recognized principles, and there have been no violations that could affect the integrity of the electoral process.

Parties and lists

44 parties participated in the parliamentary elections out of more than 105 parties, and only 20 of them won seats. The following figure shows the percentage of the number of parties that participated and did not participate in the electoral process, as well as the parties that won seats.

The parties in this council accounted for approximately 43% with 239 of the total number of council seats, and independents occupied 57% with 316 out of the total number of deputies, and despite the representation of the parties (20 parties) out of 44 that applied to run in elections, it is a small percentage compared to the number of Egyptian parties that It reached more than 105 parties, and the number of seats the parties won was as follows:

1- The Free Egyptians Party has 65 seats

2- The Future of the Nation Party has 50 seats

3- Al-Wafd Party, 45 seats

4- The Homeland Protectors Party has 17 seats.

5- The Republican People's Party has 13 seats

6- The Congress Party has 12 seats

7- Al-Nour Party, 12 seats

8- The Conservative Party, 6 seats

9 - Democratic Peace Party 5 seats

10- The Egyptian Democratic Party, 4 seats

11- The National Movement Party 4 seats

12- Modern Egypt Party 4 seats

13- Reform and Development Party 3 seats

14- The Freedom Party 3 seats

15- Egypt is my country, 3 seats

16- The pool party, one seat

17- The Arab Nasserite Party, one seat

18- The edifice party has one seat

19- The Guardians of the Revolution, one seat

20- Entrepreneurial Party one seat

The following figure shows the percentage of each party from the total seats in Parliament.

While a limited number of parties announced their boycott of the electoral process, at the top of which were the warring parties (Strong Egypt, Justice, Socialist Popular Alliance, and Freedom Egypt). Participation and boycott were linked according to our estimates to the extent of the presence of the parties in Sharia and their specific weight in society, as most of the parties do not participate Or the one that announced its boycott does not have a large membership base nor an influential presence in the Egyptian street.

The final result of the seats obtained by the party forces reflects several things, especially after the party candidates managed to achieve an apparent progress in the first stage that does not reflect the strength of their parties as much as it can reflect the good choice of the parties for candidates in certain constituencies, the independent candidates returned to achieve tangible progress by winning the 62% from The second-stage seats in exchange for the 38% seats won by the party candidates, and the end result so far is that the independent candidates obtained 56% of individual seats in exchange for 44% for the partisans. The scene of party candidates running for individual seats revealed a real problem for the Egyptian party system, which is:

1- Lack of the parties ’ability to prepare party cadres who can spread the party’s ideas and mobilize and recruit the largest segment of the party’s supporters on the basis of the priorities it will put on its legislative agenda through its parliamentary body.

2- The parties include candidates who are reliable in their success, even if they differ ideologically with the ideas and policies of the party itself, with the aim of forming a large parliamentary bloc without considering the ideological difference.

3- Dependence on the former candidates of the National Party or on the second generation of children of old members of the party, which does not bear any condemnation of the representatives of the National Party or their children, but reflects the political poverty and the inability to prepare the cadres and not to exploit the political aspirations of the youth sectors that have always enriched them. Parties

4- The last thing that is noteworthy is the almost complete disappearance of the Egyptian left from representation in Parliament through its legitimate parties, as well as the severe decline in the percentage of the religious right represented by the Salafi Nour Party.

And at the level of the lists About 20% seats in Parliament have been allocated to the system of absolute closed lists, as an appropriate solution to the constitutional restrictions that imposed the necessity of representing a number of marginalized groups such as women, Egyptians in Al-Kharj, Christians, people with disabilities, youth, workers and peasants, and evidence is available on the difficulty of representing these groups without the system of absolute closed lists under circumstances. Egyptian geography and demography.

 For those lists, 20 % seats were allocated to parliament, and the republic was divided into four sectors. We find that the East and West Delta regions have been allocated two lists, each of which contains 15 seats. The remaining two lists, one covering Cairo, the central and southern delta, and the other covering all cities of Upper Egypt. Each of them has 45 seats. According to the House of Representatives law, these lists must represent the different categories of the Egyptian people, including youth under 35 years of age, Christians, people with disabilities, and women. The following figure shows the percentages stipulated by the law in the distribution of these groups within the lists with fifteen seats.

The following figure also shows the percentage of representation of the groups stipulated by the law in the lists of forty-five seats:

He ran for the elections, and seven lists contested the elections in the four sectors:

1. List in Love with Egypt and ran in the four sectors allocated to the lists
2. The Nour Party list ran in only two sectors: the West Delta, the Cairo List, and the South and Central Delta
3. Nidaa Masr list and ran in only two constituencies: West Delta and North
4. The coalition of the Egyptian Front and the Independence Movement, and this list ran in only three constituencies: the West Delta sector, the central and southern Upper Egypt sectors, the Cairo sector, and the central and southern Delta
5. The Republican Alliance Current List and ran for the Cairo, Central and South Delta constituencies
6. List of Knights of Egypt and ran for the West Delta Circle
7. List of the National Awakening Bloc that ran for the central and southern Upper Egypt sector

It is noteworthy that in the East Delta sector, only a list in love with Egypt has nominated. A list in the love of Egypt won all the seats allocated to the lists in the elections after it obtained the highest number of votes in the first round.

Single seat candidates

The elections took place in two phases, the first phase included 14 governorates and the second phase included 13 governorates. During the competitive process of the House of Representatives, (5432) candidates were nominated for individual seats, of whom (3622) were independent candidates with a percentage of (66.7%). (1647) competed in the first phase, of whom (105) candidates won parliamentary seats with a percentage of (49.29 %) and a number (1975) were candidates. During the second phase, (137) candidates won (61.71), while (1810) individual candidates were nominated for (33.3%), among whom (901) candidates competed during the first phase, of whom (108) candidates representing (16) political parties won With parliamentary seats with a percentage of (50.71%) and (909) candidates during the second phase, of whom (85) candidates representing (16) political parties won (38.29%), so that the final result of the competition for (435) individual seats won the independents with (242) seats. With a percentage of (55.63%), and the parties won (193) seats by (44.37%) of the total individual seats for which this ballot was held, in addition to 13 seats whose results have not been decided in four districts so far to postpone their voting in accordance with the provisions issued for re-voting in those constituencies. The figure shows Next, the proportions of the competitors in the two stages.

Violations witnessed in the electoral process

First: Parties and Lists

The multiplicity of violations and breaches by some parties, and the most prominent of those violations committed by the parties and lists began even before the voters were invited to vote, as the parties organized many different activities, which were: -

1- The Nour Party organizes furniture fairs, school supplies exhibitions, human and veterinary medical convoys, and student reviews, as well as poultry and meat markets.

2- The Free Egyptians Party organized a number of human medical convoys, football tournaments, and some food commodities exhibitions.

3- The Future of the Nation Party implemented an initiative to employ youth in more than one governorate.

On polling days, one of the most notable violations that was monitored was the supporters of my list in love with Egypt and the Nour Party’s list directing the voters in front of the polling stations and distributing propaganda cards during periods of electoral silence.

Second: Individual seat candidates

At the level of individual candidates, the behavior of most of the candidates was characterized by violating the rules governing the electoral process, either at the level of breaking the electoral silence or offering electoral bribes. Also, many candidates provided collective transportation means, and many candidates' supporters and representatives directed the voters inside some polling center roads or in front of outside centers. The following figure shows the percentages of these violations in total out of the number of violations that were detected.

In the same context, many of the candidates for the elections violated the rules governing the electoral process, whether by means of using places of worship, which is one of the phenomena that clearly appeared on the electoral arena, and children were used in electoral advertising as well as the use of public institutions (government interests - youth centers - civil associations) In the election campaign of independent or partisan candidates, as was witnessed by the candidacy period and electoral propaganda, some candidates used their influence, powers, and a circle of knowledge of executives and government officials in the electoral campaigning operations, the early advertising banners that spread in most governorates before the electoral campaign period determined by the Supreme Elections Committee.

Special classes

For the first time in the history of Egyptian constitutional and parliamentary life, the fifty committee worked on the positive distinction of six categories of the Egyptian society, as Article 102 of the constitution affirmed the observance of fair representation of the population, governorates, and equal representation of voters, and it is permissible to adopt the individual, list or electoral system. The combination of any ratio between them. The President of the Republic may appoint a number of members in the House of Representatives not exceeding 5%, and the law determines how they are nominated. Articles 243 and 244 also stipulated that the state shall work to adequately represent workers, farmers, youth, Christians, people with disabilities, and Egyptians residing abroad in the first House of Representatives to be elected after the approval of this constitution. Below we review these categories

First: Women: -

Women were the focus of the conflict and competition equation to shape the future after the January 25 revolution, so it turned into a major player that everyone sought to attract and win their confidence, which was evident in all competitive and electoral processes, and everyone wagered on the capabilities of women and their enthusiasm for participation, a bet that did not fail or fail in any competitive occasion to become a woman icon Egyptian elections. With the preparations for the parliamentary elections, it was natural for everyone through the Constituent Assembly to draft the constitution to ensure representation that achieves (equality between women and men in all civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights), as the legislator was keen to adhere to this constitutional text when drafting the House of Representatives law (46 of the year 2014) which granted women (56) seats at least through competing closed lists in addition to half of those whom the president is entitled to appoint in the parliament (5 %), so that the minimum representation for women becomes (70) parliamentary seats during this competitive session, which some saw fit. Otherwise, women may apply to run for direct individual seats (283) female candidates

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