Egypt’s electoral commission said on March 1 it was preparing a new timetable for parliamentary polls, delaying the March 21 vote after a court ruled parts of the election law unconstitutional. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ordered that the law be redrafted within a month and asked that “legal measures be undertaken to avoid delaying” the election, his office said. Egypt’s constitutional court ruled that sections of the law dividing the electoral districts were unconstitutional. The electoral commission said in a statement the section of the law deemed unconstitutional will be revised and then “there will be a new timetable for the procedures” for the election.
“It will certainly not take place on March 21,” commission spokesman Omar Marwan told AFP after the panel met. He said he did not yet know when the election would take place.
The administrative court, which rules on state related matters, must still formally rule on delaying the poll that are currently scheduled to end on May 7.
Lawyers who appealed against the law had said it failed to divide districts in a way that would adequately represent the electorate. “The election will be delayed and the process will have to start from the beginning,” lawyer Mohamed Abdel Wahhab told AFP.
Full Article: Egypt electoral panel preparing timetable for delayed poll – MIDEAST.
