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Election Profile:

Flag of Egypt
  • Country: Egypt
  • Official Name: Arab Republic of Egypt
  • Election Type: Parliamentary
  • Stage One: November 28, 2010
    Stage Two: December 5, 2010
Source for election date

At stake in this election:

  • 508 seats in the People's Assembly (Majlis Al-Sha'b)

Description of government structure:

  • Chief of State: President Mohamed Hosni MUBARAK
  • Head of Government: Prime Minister Ahmed NAZIF
  • Assembly: Egypt has a bicameral Parliament consisting of the Advisory Council (Majilis Al-Shura) with 264 seats and the People's Assembly (Majlis Al-Sha'b) with 518 seats.

Description of electoral system:

  • The President is elected by absolute majority vote through a two-round system to serve a 6-year term.*
  • The Prime Minister is appointed by the president with the approval of the parliament.
  • In the Advisory Council (Majilis Al-Shura), 176 members are elected by absolute majority vote through a two-round system to serve 6-year terms and 88 members are appointed by the president to serve 6-year terms. In the People's Assembly (Majlis Al-Sha'b), 444 members are elected by absolute majority vote through a two-round system to serve 5-year terms, 10 members are appointed by the president to serve 5-year terms and 64 members are reserved for women to serve 5-year terms.**

* A national referendum in May 2005 approved a constitutional amendment that changed the presidential election to a multicandidate popular vote. Previously, the president was nominated by the People's Assembly and the nomination was validated by a national, popular referendum. Candidates may run with a party or as independents. Each registered political party is allowed to field a candidate if they have been licensed for at least five years and hold at least five percent of the seats in the lower and upper houses of parliament. In order to qualify as an independent, potential candidates must collect 250 signatures from elected officials. These officials can be from both the national and municipal level.

** Every district contains two seats and electors are given two votes. At least one seat in each district is reserved for a worker or farmer. If no candidate receives an absolute majority in the first round, a second round is held one week later. This round will contain the top 4 vote-getters, provided 2 are workers and/or farmers. If the two top candidates in the first round are not workers or farmers, the top candidate is elected, while a new simple majority poll is held a week later among the top workers and farmers. In the women's tier, every governorate is one electoral district and elects two women, at least half of whom must be workers or farmers, except for the governorates of Cairo, El‐Daqahilia, and Sohag which are divided into two electoral districts, each of which elects to women members

Main parties in the electoral race:

******* The Political Parties Law of 1977 (Law 40/1977) prohibits political parties based on religious identity, however, Brotherhood members often run as independents.

Population and number of registered voters:

  • Population: 80,471,869 (July 2010 est.)
  • Registered Voters: 31,890,106 (November 2005 )

Last Updated on 02/04/2011

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