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14 Official Gazette – Issue No. 8 bis (a) May 26, 2013 In the name of the people Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC) In its meeting held on Saturday, May 25, 2013 A.D., corresponding to Rajab 15, 1434 A.H.; Headed by Justice Maher Al-Behiry …………………… Court President; In membership of chancellors: Adly Mahmoud Mansour, Abdel Wahab Abdel Razeq, Dr. Hanafy Aly Gebaly, Mohamed Abdel Aziz Al-Shennawy, Maher Samy Yussef; and Saied Marey Amr ……………………………….. Court Vice-presidents; and In presence of Justice Hamdan Hassan Fahmi………Chairman of Board of Commissioners And Mr. Nasser Emam Mohamed…………………………..Secretary Has Decreed the Following In reference to the request registered in SCC's schedule under No 3/1935-Judicial "pre-control" Proceedings On April 14, 2013, letter No. 426, dated 11/04/2013, from Shura Council Speaker, was referred to the SCC. Attached thereto was a draft law on the House of Representatives (HoR), to be presented to the SCC pursuant to article No. 177 of the constitution. Upon the preparation of the request, the Board of Commissioners reported opinion thereof. The request was examined as required by the minutes of the session and the Court decided to issue a decision thereon in today's meeting. The laws referred to in the first paragraph are not subject to the subsequent control stipulated in Article 175 of the Constitution”.

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Shura Council Speaker request for constitutional review of the draft law regulating the exercise of political rights.

Judgment

Question Presented: Whether the draft law adheres to the current constitutional political protections.

Alleged Acts: The Shura Council Member filed suit in the Supreme Constitutional Court seeking review of the draft law that limited political rights and they exercise thereof. The drafted law; (1) distinguished between judicial bodies and branches and required the National Elections Commission to assign supervision of voting to judicial bodies; (2) permitted those unable to cast their ballot based on visual impairment or other disability to verbally state the vote to an election official who would record it on a ballot; (3) permitting the President to set the general election date by decree; (4) no modifications may be made to the voter database after the call for elections; (5) reforming the voting abroad system to begin counting before the actual date of elections.

Summary: The court determined that the differentiation between judicial bodies and branches was unconstitutional and required that they words be synonymous. Second, the court determined that all ballots must be direct secret votes, but that this supposes the voter is sighted. Thus, the court determined that the committee head signing the ballot paper violated the right to secrecy. Third, the court determined that Presidential decree violated the constitution because it diminish the integrity of election and removed powers from the Election Commission. Fourth, the court determined that restrictions on the right to voter were limited such those they unreasonably hindered political participation. Fifth, the court determine that the constitution provides protections for Egyptians living abroad and the restriction of voting before election day failed to adhere to these protections.

Conclusion: The court struck down portion of the drafted law and unconstitutional because they conflicted with the political protections set forth in the constitution.

Legal Issue(s)

Accessibility
Vote Verification and Transmission

Region: Middle East and North Africa

Country: Egypt

Language of Decision

English

Court: Constitutional Court

Election Type: Review of law

Date of decision: May 26, 2013

Geolocation

Latitude: 30.38327401

Longitude: 31.34626495

: Geolocation

Primary Documents

SCC ruling- some elec procedures and PWDs-May 2013 (English).pdf
English
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Election Judgments - IFES

Select target paragraph3

Shura Council Speaker request for constitutional review of the draft law regulating the exercise of political rights.

Primary Documents

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