Egypt's 2014 Presidential Election Law

The law was promulgated by the Interim President on March 8, 2014, and is currently being implemented by the Presidential Election Commission (PEC). The 2014 Constitution, approved in a referendum held on January 14 and 15, 2014, included several changes to the constitutional framework for presidential elections. The deadline for initiating the procedures for a presidential election has been increased from 90 days to 120 days before the end of the previous president's term. The result of a presidential election must now be announced at least 30 days before the end of the previous president's term. The 2014 Constitution also introduced new requirements for presidential candidates. The parents and spouse of a presidential candidate must not have held any other nationality than Egyptian. A presidential candidate must have performed military service or been exempted therefrom by law. The law may set further requirements for presidential candidacy in addition to those stated in the Constitution. The abolition of the Consultative Assembly in the 2014 Constitution has led to some consequential amendments. Twenty members from the House of Representatives may endorse a presidential candidate. If the House is dissolved, the presidential oath is taken before the General Assembly of the Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC). The Assembly receives a president's resignation and acts to fill a vacancy in the presidency. The 2014 Presidential Election Law also outlines the provisions for the presidential election process. The law requires a presidential candidate to obtain a minimum of 25,000 supporters in at least 15 governorates, compared to 20,000 from 10 governorates in the 2012 Constitution. The requirement to obtain at least 1,000 supporters from each of those governorates remains the same in both Constitutions. The timetable for the 2014 presidential elections, announced by the PEC, includes the first round of elections on May 26 and 27, 2014. General al-Sisi, the former Commander-in-Chief of the Egyptian Armed Forces and Minister of Defense, has announced that he will be a presidential candidate. At the time of writing, the following applicants had submitted candidacy papers to the PEC: Abdul Fatah al-Sisi and Hamdeen Sabahi, former candidate of the 2012 presidential elections. The IFES Briefing Paper analyzes the new law on presidential elections and highlights major changes from the 2012 law and the draft law. The paper also indicates a number of matters that should be addressed before the election. The timetable for the 2014 presidential elections is outlined in Section 4 of the Briefing Paper.