Elections in Egypt: 2015 House of Representatives Elections Frequently Asked Questions

A public referendum held in January 2014 resulted in the approval of a new Constitution, displacing the 2012 Constitution approved under the Morsi administration. The referendum represented the first milestone in the transitional roadmap. During the summer of 2014, transitional authorities switched the order of the remaining two milestones (HoR elections and presidential elections) and held the presidential elections prior to the HoR elections. In June 2014, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi was elected President. In January 2015, following the completion of all electoral legislation, Egypt's Higher Elections Committee (HEC) announced that HoR Elections would take place in two phases from March-April 2015. The electoral system in Egypt is composed of a unique combination of two separate majoritarian electoral components. The first component consists of individual candidates competing for seats, while the second component consists of electoral lists competing for seats. Both political party members and independents can run under either system. Out of the 568 seats, 448 seats will be elected through individual candidates competing in majoritarian elections in single and multimember districts. In Egypt, this component of the electoral system is known as the "individual system." Under the "individual system," the country is divided into 205 districts that have either one, two, three, or four seats. Voters have as many votes as there are seats in a district; if a district has two seats, for example, each voter in that district has two votes. A candidate must obtain an absolute majority (50 percent plus one) of valid votes cast in order to be elected. The elections will be held over two phases starting in October and ending in December. The first phase covers the following governorates: Giza, Fayoum, Beni Suef, Minia, Assiut, Al Wadi Al Jadid, Sohag, Qena, Luxor, Aswan, Red Sea, Alexandria, Beheira, and Matrouh. The second phase will cover the remaining governorates: Cairo, Qalubiya, Dakahlia, Monoufiya, Gharbiya, Kafr El Sheikh, Sharkia, Damietta, Port Said, Ismailia, Suez, North Sinai, and South Sinai. Out-of-country-voting (OCV) for the first phase of elections will take place on October 17-18, with in-country voting being held on October 18-19. The OCV run-off for the first phase will be held on October 26-27, with the in-country run-off being held on October 27-28. The electoral system also includes an "absolute closed list system," where lists compete for seats in four multimember districts. Lists compete for these seats, and voters must cast ballots for one list on the ballot paper. All the seats in the district are allocated to the list that wins the most votes, provided that the list obtained an absolute majority (50 percent plus one) of the valid votes. If no list wins an absolute majority, a run-off election must be held between the two lists with the highest number of valid votes. The defining characteristic of this system is the fact that the winning list wins all the seats; in theory, a list with 51 percent of the vote can win all seats. The Higher Elections Committee (HEC) is responsible for overseeing the electoral process, including the compilation of voter lists, the establishment of polling stations, and the tabulation of results. The HEC also has the authority to declare the results of the elections and to resolve any disputes that may arise during the electoral process. The Ministry of Interior is responsible for providing security for the elections and for ensuring that the electoral process is conducted in a fair and transparent manner.