2020 Egyptian Senate election

Background

Shura Council elections were scheduled to take place in Egypt at most a year after the new House of Representatives was seated, according to Article 230 of the Egyptian Constitution of 2012. The election did not take place because the Shura Council was abolished in the 2014 constitution. However, in 2019, after the 2019 Egyptian constitutional referendum, further amendments made the parliament a bicameral body, with the Shura Council restored as the Senate.

Incumbent President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and parties supporting him have been labeled as running an authoritarian regime by international media outlets.

Dates

Overseas voting for run-off rounds was completed on 7 September. In-country voting began on 9 September for 14 governorates , specifically, "Giza, Qalyubia, Port Said, Ismailia, Menofia, Kafr El Sheikh, Damietta, Beni Suef, Assiut, Sohag, Qena, Luxor, Aswan and Matrouh".

Electoral system

Originally upon its re-establishment, the body was to consist of at least 120 elected members and 60 appointed by the president. The House later fixed the numbers at 300 senators, with one third appointed by the president, one third directly elected in 27 single member constituencies coterminous with the governorates under a two-round system, and the last third directly elected as well, under a closed party list system in four multi-member constituencies with a five percent threshold.

The distribution of seats by province is as follows:

Conduct

The pro-government Nation's Future Party was accused of buying votes in several constituencies. The government was also accused of only implementing safety precautions due to the COVID-19 pandemic in areas that witnessed a large media presence. The National Council for Human Rights was also prevented from visiting several polling stations by the police, and some polling stations were said to have had insufficient ambulances and wheelchairs for people with disabilities and the elderly.

Results

First round

Turnout in the first round was only 14.23%, amid opposition boycotts, general voter apathy, confusion over the role the Senate would have, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Only around 7.57 million valid votes were cast, and roughly 1.38 million invalid votes were cast, despite over 62 million voters having been registered to participate. A total of 74 of the 100 constituency seats were won in the first round, while 26 will hold run-off elections in September between the top two candidates in the constituencies. Out of the 74 determined constituency seats in the first round, 68 went to the Nation's Future Party, which has extremely close connections to members in the government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. The Republican People's Party, another pro-government party, won five seats, and one seat went to an independent candidate. In terms of the 100 seats allocated from closed lists, the only closed list submitted was led by the Nation's Future Party (which holds 59 of the 100 spots in the list), although it included six members of two parties from an opposition coalition that opposed the constitutional changes that re-introduced an upper chamber of the legislature. According to Reuters, as the list received more than 5% of votes across the country (the threshold needed for lists), and was the only one submitted, the National Elections Authority declared that it had won [all 100 list seats] by acclamation.

Second round

Turnout in the second round was estimated to be even lower than the first, with only 2,884,757 voters participating out of a registered 28,217,880, for a turnout of approximately 10.22%. A total of 2,451,704 votes (84.09%) were valid. The National Electoral Authority appeared to contradict prior seat count reports from the first round for the Nation's Future Party according to one source, saying they had earned 50 seats rather than 59. The Nation's Future Party won 20 constituency seats in the second round, with 5 seats going to independent candidates and one to the Republican People's Party.

Nation's Future Party: 68 constituency seats in the first round + 20 constituency seats in the second round + 50 list seats = 138 seats total

Republican People's Party: 5 constituency seats in the first round + 1 constituency seat in the second round + ? list seats

Independents: 1 constituency seat in the first round + 5 constituency seats in the second round + ? list seats

Other parties: ? constituency seats + ? list seats

NOTE: The five independent candidates were likely affiliated with parties as stated at http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/383249/Egypt/Politics-/Egypts-NEA-announces-results-of-Senate-election-ru.aspx but they were not listed on the official results document. The official party list document also does not show the party affiliation of the 100 list members, meaning external reports with more information are required.--

Aftermath

El-Sisi appointed 53 members to the senate in October 2020. They included Sameh Ashour, the former head of the Lawyers Syndicate, Bahaa El-Din Abu Shoka, the head of the New Wafd Party, and others.

Boycott

Several parties announced that they would boycott the elections, including the Constitution Party, Dignity Party, the Socialist Popular Alliance Party, and the Bread and Freedom Party, in addition to public figures such as Hamdeen Sabahi, George Ishaq, Abdelgelil Mostafa (the General Coordinator of the National Association for Change) and Mustapha Kamel Al Sayyid (professor of political science and director of the Center for the Study of Developing Countries at Cairo University).

Notes

References

References

1. (2012). "The Egyptian Shura council and the international experiences". Arab Forum for Alternatives; Global Partners & Associates.
2. Saleh, Nivien. "The 2012 Constitution of Egypt, Translated by Nivien Saleh, with Index".
3. (1 December 2013). "50 member constitution committee eliminates Shura Council". Ahram Online.
4. (18 January 2014). "Egypt constitution 'approved by 98.1 percent'". Al Jazeera English.
5. Gamal Essam El-Din. (15 April 2019). "Frequently Asked Questions about parliament's proposed amendments of Egypt's 2014 constitution". [[Ahram Online]].
6. Mohammed Abu Zaid. (9 September 2020). "Voting begins in decisive Egypt Senate elections". Arab News.
7. "Two-Round System".
8. (13 July 2020). "Egypt to hold Senate elections in August".
9. [http://www.mld.gov.eg/Arabic/Left/DataBaseSearch/Egypt بيان بعدد الوحدات المحلية على مستوى الجمهورية.] {{Webarchive. link. (6 December 2016 وزارة التنمية المحلية. تاريخ الوصول 20 سبتمبر 2014.)
10. link. (13 March 2016)
11. [http://egypt.unfpa.org/Arabic/Staticpage/13486948-6e6c-4622-b6e7-0ccbe6a40031/indicateursAR.aspx صندوق الأمم المتحدة للسكان - مصر - المؤشرات] {{Webarchive. link. (4 March 2016)
12. (2020). "Senate Elections 2020".
13. (12 August 2020). "Egypt's Senate elections marred by vote-buying and apathy".
14. (12 August 2020). "Low voter turnout on first day of Senate elections in Egypt".
15. Mourad, Mahmoud. (19 August 2020). "UPDATE 1-Supporters of Egypt's Sisi set to dominate newly created Senate". Reuters.
16. Soliman, Mohamed. (19 August 2020). "Mostaqbal Watan Party secures majority in Egypt's Senate elections".
17. (16 September 2020). "أسماء الفائزين في'إعادة انتخابات الشيوخ'{{!}}الوطنية: 2 مليون مواطن أدلوا بأصواتهم".
18. (16 September 2020). "Egypt's NEA announces results of Senate election run-offs".
19. [https://el-yom.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/%D9%86%D8%AA%D9%8A%D8%AC%D8%A9-%D8%AC%D9%88%D9%84%D9%87-%D8%A7%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%AA%D8%AE%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D9%85%D8%AC%D9%84%D8%B3-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D9%8A%D9%88%D8%AE.pdf Results of the second round of the 2020 Egyptian Senate Elections] {{webarchive. link. (18 September 2020)
20. "12631529 | PDF".
21. El-Sheikh, Sarah. (14 October 2020). "President Al-Sisi issues list of appointed senators".
22. (23 July 2020). "حزاب وشخصيات مصرية تعلن مقاطعة انتخابات مجلس الشيوخ".