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Maat Foundation offers a different reading of the first phase of the parliamentary elections

Maat Foundation offers a different reading of the first phase of the parliamentary elections  

Broad party participation “empties” the boycott thesis of its content

Parties: Participated with 34% candidates and got 51% seats

Women and Copts .. get out of the cloak of quota

 

 

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Preface

The first phase of the Egyptian parliamentary elections, which is the first after the 30 June 2013 revolution, has ended, and the electoral process was characterized according to the testimonies of observers and those concerned with the integrity of most of its procedures and its adherence to the law and judiciary rulings issued during its various stages. The methodology prevailing before the January 2011 revolution.

Despite this, the electoral process in general witnessed some disagreements about the legal frameworks organizing them between the various political parties and forces, especially with regard to the electoral system and the seats reserved for lists and others for the individual, but the constitutional framework and the restrictions it sets were a decisive factor in this regard, which led to the reduction of available flexibility. Before the committees formed to amend legislation to adopt more ideal legislative options.

The first phase of the parliamentary elections that ended on October 28, 2015 witnessed a decrease in the voter turnout rates, as the participation rate reached about 26.5% of the total voters who have the right to vote, which prompted some to link the decline in participation in terms of the legitimacy of the electoral process from On the other hand, which is a link that lacks logic to a large extent, as the low voter turnout was not part of an organized campaign to boycott the parties and political forces of the electoral process, which is confirmed by the large partisan participation in the electoral process. Therefore, the low voter participation is part of the electoral process. Weakness of the tendency towards electoral participation, not a boycott in the political sense of the word.

This report includes a different analysis of the first phase of the electoral process, as it mainly focuses on the nature of partisan and factional participation in the electoral process, especially for women and Copts, and the results obtained by these parties, women and Copts, the implications of these results and their comparison with previous elections, especially the 2011/2012 parliamentary elections, and the elections. Parliament in 2005 (given that the 2010 elections included a quota of seats reserved for women).

 

Parties and participation in parliamentary elections

The number of parties participating in the electoral process reached 44 political parties, the vast majority of which were from the parties that were formed after the January 2011 revolution, among them parties that had a good number of representatives in the 2011/2012 parliament, while the number of political candidates, whether on individual seats or closed-list seats 960 candidates, out of a total of 2798 candidates, with a rate of 34.5% of the total candidates.

Only four parties, namely (Free Egyptians, Al-Nour, Watan’s Future, and the New Delegation) presented 46.1% from the total number of party candidates, and about 16% from the total number of candidates in the first stage, taking into account that the four parties have fundamental differences at the level of political ideology and the age structure of their leaders, In addition, two of them were established after the January revolution, one from the pre-January parties and one from the parties established after June 30, 2013.

The figures also indicate that six political parties (the National Movement, Democratic Peace, the Conference, the Homeland Protection, the Egyptian Social Democratic, the Republican People) presented a combined 32.6% of the total party candidates, 11.2% of the total candidates during the first stage in general, and it should be noted That four of these parties were established after the January 2011 revolution, a party was established after the June 30 revolution, and a single party was considered one of the parties existing before the January revolution.


 

A table showing a list of the most important parties participating in the first phase of the Egyptian parliamentary elections

 

Participating parties Singles Lists Total candidates The number of seats won
Free Egyptians 113 5 118 41
the light 91 60 151 10
The future of a nation 89 4 93 34
The new delegation 77 4 81 15
The Egyptian National Movement 60 0 60 1
Democratic peace 57 0 57 2
Conference 53 2 55 7
Homeland protectors 51 3 54 8
Egyptian Social Democratic 45 0 45 3
Republican people 42 0 42 11
Other parties  (34 party) 204 1 205 7
Total 882 78 960 139

 

The seats allocated for the first stage in the individual system departments reached 226 seats, in addition to 60 seats in the constituencies allocated to the closed list system, with a total of 286 seats, and since the elections were postponed for 13 seats in 4 districts after the issuance of judicial decisions, so the total seats included in the results The final stage of the stage seats 273.

The data of the previous table indicate that the parties collectively won 139 seats, accounting for approximately 51% of the total seats, a percentage that exceeds the participation rate of the parties out of the total candidates, meaning that the parties represented about 34% of candidates, while they represented more than 50% of the seat winners.

The data also indicates that only two parties, the Free Egyptians (founded after the January revolution) and Mostakbal Nation (founded after June 30), collectively won 75 seats, with a ratio of 27.5% of the total seats in the stage, and approximately 54% of the total seats obtained by the parties.

 

Copts and women .. freedom from the captivity of the kutah

Women's participation in the first phase of the 2015 Parliament elections represented an important feature at the level of voting, running for and winning seats, and apart from the absolute closed-list system that guarantees a minimum level of representation for women, we will discuss in the following lines the nature of women's participation in individual seats and the associated results and their implications.

The total number of female candidates for individual seats reached 110 out of a total of 2573 candidates for the same seats, ie a ratio of 4.2%, taking into account that the majority of the governorates of the first stage were Upper Egypt and West Delta governorates of a rural nature and tribal composition.

At the level of final results, women won 5 seats without a quota and outside the list system, i.e. by 2.2%, and the five seats won by: -

  1. Nashwa al-Deeb (of the Nasserite Democratic Party)
  2. Shadia Mahmoud Thabet (Independent)
  3. Hiyam Ibrahim Fathy Saad (from the Congress Party)
  4. Mona Shaker Khalil (Independent)
  5. Hind Qabbari Al-Jabali (Independent)

Although this percentage appears to be very small compared to the demographic situation and the social importance of women, it remains significant rates for several reasons, the most important of which are the following: -

1- For the first time since the July 1953 revolution, women won this number of seats on the individual system, without the quota system or the existing system, which included positive discrimination for women.

2- The announced results are for the first phase only, and in governorates of tribal and rural nature, and then these numbers are subject to increase in the second phase.

On the level of Copts and the results they won on the individual seats, we find that there are three Copts who won seats in a number of districts, and these are districts where the majority of voters are Muslims, and the winners are important.

1- Ihab Mansour (Egyptian Social Democrat)

2- Major General Tadros Qaldas Tadros (independent)

3- Sherif Nadi (Free Egyptians)

These results are considered the best for Coptic candidates on the individual seats and without the quota after the July 1952 revolution, which reveals an important qualitative change in the directions and motives of the Egyptian voter vote.


Final conclusions

The first phase of the 2015 House of Representatives elections witnessed significant partisan participation from parties belonging to the period before January 25, 2011 and after June 30, 2013, which are ideologically and politically differentiated, and also differ in their position on the ruling authority in Egypt after July 3, Only a small group of parties close to the Muslim Brotherhood boycotted the electoral process, most of whom objected to a course beyond June 30, 2013.

Broad party participation indicates several indications, perhaps the most important of which is that low voter turnout rates do not reflect a societal tendency to boycott the electoral process, because boycott is a broad institutional act, which is not available in the case of parliamentary elections, and therefore we are facing a process of relative reluctance to participate, or He was lazy about it for many reasons, of which the politician represents only a limited percentage.

On the other hand, women have reaped the fruits of their increased voting participation in the electoral process, as five women won seats in the individual system and registered their quota for the first time in more than 60 years, which establishes an important rule that the defense of different social groups for their interests begins with their intense participation in voting. By general elections.

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