Official Gazette – Issue No. 9 (bis) March 1, 2015 19 9- Fayoum Governorate: A representative in Youssef Al-Seddik Constituency represents 255,941 citizens, while a representative in Abshway Constituency represents 141,491 citizens. 10- Beni Suef Governorate: A representative in Ahnasia Constituency represents 268,253 citizens, while a representative in Beni Suef Constituency represents 141,700 citizens. 11- Al-Minya Governorate: A representative in Al-Minya Constituency represents 249,040 citizens, while a representative in Al-Minya City Constituency represents 118,821 citizens. 12- Assiut Governorate: A representative in Al-Fateh Constituency represents 225,697 citizens, while a representative in Sadfa Constituency represents 103,617 citizens and in Abutig Constituency 111,893 citizens. 13- Sohag Governorate: A representative in Sohag City Constituency represents 199,127 citizens, while a representative in Dar Al-Salam Constituency represents 143,556 citizens. Based on the aforementioned facts and since citizens, including those who meet the requirements for exercising the right to vote, despite their affiliation to different constituencies, are equally entitled to be represented, a uniform rule shall apply to all of them which guarantee nondiscrimination towards them with regards to their proportional representation. Such rule shall have as its ultimate goal the achievement of actual citizen representation, thus reflecting the principles mentioned in Article (4) of the Constitution stating that sovereignty belongs to the people who are the source of power, and greatly contributing to the country's political life. Such emphasizes the fact that while voting is perceived as a right that citizens hold, it is equally perceived as a duty they should fulfill since it is society's way of achieving its aspirations through guaranteeing the freedom of the citizens thereof to exercise their choice. Such freedom is clearly manifested in citizens' right to vote in parliamentary councils elections. Therefore, the legislative structure shall ensure that a voter's vote in one constituency is equally weighted as that of another voter in another constituency while taking into account the number of population. Such shall lead to the realization of the principles of equal opportunity and equality among citizens in terms of exercising their right to vote. In light of the aforementioned facts, any attempts to prevent, disregard or weaken the proportional representation of voters in a certain electoral constituency in comparison to their peers in other constituencies shall constitute a violation of the principles of equal opportunity and equality among citizens in terms of exercising their right to vote. In light of the aforementioned points and since Article (3) of the Presidential Decree Law No. 202/2014, is not in line with the two principles of fair representation of the population and equal representation of voters as evidenced in the individual electoral system table attached herein showing an unequal weighting of votes of voters in different electoral constituencies – as previously illustrated – without any reasonable justification for such inequality, and since such inequality constitutes a violation of the right to vote, a deviation from the purpose for which such right was enshrined by the Constitution, a violation of the principles of equal opportunity and equality among citizens in exercising such right and a violation, in turn, of the people's sovereignty being the source of power, said article is deemed contradictory to the provisions of Articles (4), (9), (53), (87) and (102) of the Constitution, thus rendering such article unconstitutional.

Select target paragraph3