Update on Egypt’s Political Affairs

Presidential Elections:

Recently, the chairman of the Higher Committee for the Presidential Elections announced the scheduled dates for the presidential elections in the following course:

  • The submission process of presidential nominations will be for duration of one month commencing on March 10th until April 8th, 2012.
  • The presidential elections will take place on May 23rd and May 24th.
  • The run-off between the two leading candidates will take place on June 16th and June 17th, if none of the candidates managed to score (50% + 1) in the first round.
  • The announcement of presidential elections results will take place on June 21st, 2012.

The Constitutional Assembly:

A joint meeting was held by the People’s Assembly and the Shura Council to elect a constitutional assembly for drafting the new Egyptian constitution.

The debates around the formation of the Constitutional Assembly settled on forming such assembly from both councils and other individuals who will be chosen from a wide range of different backgrounds and positions to represent all people.

The date of voting for the composition of the Constitutional Assembly is not yet set. According to the constitutional declaration, a period of six months shall be given to both councils to form the Constitutional Assembly. An additional period of six months will be granted to such assembly in order to draft the new Egyptian constitution, which will then be voted for in a public referendum.

However, the SCAF and the Islamic majority in the People’s Assembly have indicated before their desire to have a new constitution coming into effect before the results for presidential elections are announced. Therefore, it is possible that the new constitution will be voted for before June 21st, 2012.

This publication is intended for general guidance only. It is not intended to render professional legal advice. No reader should rely on any information contained in this publication. In case you have any questions on issues reported here, please send an email to Chadene El Tarouty (ct@localhost/sharkawylaw) or Karim Sarhan (ks@localhost/sharkawylaw)