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18 Official Gazette – Issue No. 8 bis (a) May 26, 2013 of voters is almost the same like Ismailia (868,773 voters) has been assigned 12 seats; 8 party-list seats and 4 individual seats. 4. Aswan governorate has 872,740 voters and has been assigned 12 seats; 8 party-list seats and 4 individual seats; while Luxor governorate, in which number of voters is almost the same as Aswan (685,009 voters), has been assigned 6 seats; 4 party-list seats and 2 individual seats. Based on what is previously mentioned, paragraph (6) of article (3) of the draft law and the tables attached thereto violate article (113) of the constitution. This requires re-consideration of seats allocation as well as increase/decrease of the number of seats allocated for governorates with the aim of achieving the required equality. Fourth: article (8) of the presented draft law stipulates that "candidacy applications shall be registered and shall be submitted in accordance with procedures set out by the Higher Election Commission by virtue of a decree thereof". The text, as previously described, includes a provision on HEC's supervision of the first legislative elections following the enforcement of the constitution; in application of the provision of article (228) thereof that is included among the transitional provisions in Section III of Chapter VI of the constitution. The general provision is stated in article (208) of the constitution; where it authorized the National Elections Commission (NEC) solely to manage the referendums, presidential, parliamentary and local elections, indicating the limitation of HEC's supervision on the first legislative elections following the enforcement of the constitution. Hence, article (8) of the draft law as well as the other articles which tackle HEC's jurisdictions and the procedures followed before it (articles 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15 and 22) must be interpreted in a manner that limits their provisions on the first legislative elections following the enforcement of the existing constitution. Fifth: Article (13) of the draft law stipulated that "conducting electoral campaigning shall be subject to the principles of the constitution, law and the following rules: 1. ……… 2. National unity should be preserved and using any slogan that would lead to religion, gender or origin distinction should be banned. 3. ……… 4. ……… 5. ………….. The foregoing rules shall exist in addition to the rules concerning the means and methods regulating the election campaign, including the maximum campaign expenditure limit that may not be exceeded and on which a decision shall be issued by the HEC and published in two widely-circulated dailies. The competent governor may order removing posters and all other campaigning means used in contravention to any of the said rules, at the expense of the person who contravened the rules. Whoever contravenes the provisions of clause (6) of the rules referred to in the present article shall be punished…

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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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