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Official Gazette – Issue No. 8 bis (a) May 26, 2013
Court, according to article (177) of the constitution. Hence, articles (23) through (41)
of the presented draft law do not fall within the scope of the "pre-control" exercised
by the SCC, even though they are included within the texts of the stated draft law,
since they are related to the membership of the House of Representatives, member's
duties and financial and in-kind rights, HoR personnel regulation, in addition to other
matters related to HoR's financial and administrative affairs and not related to the
regulation of the legislative elections. Hence, any request submitted with regards to
such texts shall be rejected.
Having reviewed the present draft law, the Court hereby concludes the following:
First: article (1) of the draft law stipulates that "The House of Representatives shall
be composed of 546 (five hundred and forty six) members, elected by universal,
secret, and direct ballot; provided that at least half of them are workers and farmers."
The abovementioned text includes a special provision for electing the first House of
Representatives under the constitution, as required by the first paragraph of article
(229) thereof, which was a part of the Transitional Provisions in Section (3), Chapter
(5), of the constitution. Paragraph (2) of such article specifies that workers and
farmers must have at least-fifty percent representation in the first House of
Representatives. As for the general provision related to the formation of the House of
Representatives, paragraph (1) of article (113) of the constitution covered the
formation of the House of Representatives without specifying the above-mentioned
representation percentage. This means that the condition stipulating the representation
percentage to be met by workers and farmers, which is stated in the last part of article
(1) of the draft law as well as other articles thereof setting such condition (i.e. articles
2, 3, 17, 18, 20, and 21), is limited to the first House of Representatives elected
following the ratification of the constitution. Thus, it shall be interpreted as illustrated
above.
Second: article (3) of the draft law says: "In the elections of the House of
Representatives, two thirds of the seats are to be filled through the closed-list system,
while one third is to be filled through the single-winner system. Parties and
independent candidates may run under either of the two systems……… ".
This text, also, includes a special provision related to the legislative elections held
following the adoption of the constitution. This is reflected in article (231) which
stipulates "In the legislative elections that follow the adoption of the Constitution, two
thirds of the seats are to be filled through the list system, while one third is to be filled
through the single-winner system. Parties and independent candidates may run under
either of the two systems." As for the general provision, it was mentioned in article
(224) which says: "Elections of the House of Representatives, Shura Council, and
local councils shall be conducted based on a single-winner system, a list system, a
combination thereof, or any other electoral system specified by law." This means that
the regulation stated in article (3) of the draft law, which is mentioned in articles (6, 7,
8, 10, 12, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, and 22), shall be limited to the first House of
Representatives elected following the ratification of the constitution. Thus, it shall be
interpreted as illustrated above.