Elections in Egypt
Encyclopedia
Egypt elects on national level a head of state
– a president
– and a bicameral
legislature
.
The President of the Republic
is elected for a six-year term by popular vote. This election mechanism has been in place since a May 2005 amendment to the Egyptian Constitution
. Previously, the president was nominated by the People's Assembly and the nomination was confirmed by popular referendum.
Suffrage is universal and compulsory for every Egyptian citizen over 18. Failure to vote can result in fine or even imprisonment.http://www.nationmaster.com/country/eg/dem However, perhaps due to lax enforcementhttp://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/dem_com_vot_enf, only about 32 million voters are registered (approximately 40% of the total population). Turnout in 1999 was estimated at around 10%.http://www.forbes.com/work/feeds/afx/2005/09/08/afx2212162.html
The Presidential Election process in Egypt has been criticized by the domestic opposition as well as international observers. The Muslim Brotherhood
, often claimed to be the largest opposition group in Egypt, has long been declared illegal and formally excluded from the political process under the Mubarak government. Other opposition groups boycott Presidential elections, claiming that exclusion of the Muslim Brotherhood (as well as the alleged corruption of the Mubarak government) undermines the credibility of the elections. This has invariably led to a large turnout for Mubarak as he has not had to face the country's real opposition in elections.
The People's Assembly
(Majlis al-Sha'ab, lower house) has 454 members, 444 members elected for a five-year term (400 by proportional representation
and 44 in single-seat constituencies) and 10 members nominated.
The Shura Council
(Majilis Al-Shura, upper house) has 264 members. Of these, 174 members are directly elected and the remaining 88 are appointed by the President. Council members serve six-year terms, with one half of their number being renewed every third year.
was granted nominal independence by the United Kingdom
on 28 February 1922. Between the Declaration of 1922
and the Revolution of 1952, ten general elections were held (in 1924, 1925, 1926, 1929, 1931, 1936, 1938, 1942, 1945 and 1950). This era is generally known as Egypt's Liberal Experiment
. Egypt has never recovered the level of political freedom it enjoyed during this period.
During the four elections held between 1924 and 1929, candidates from the Coptic Christian
minority received 15 to 23 seats. Copts received four seats in 1931, six in 1938, 12 in 1945, and five in 1950. The opposition's share of seats also varied throughout this period. The opposition won 15.1% of the seats in the 1924 election
, 18.9% in 1926
, 6.9% in 1929
, 18.1% in 1936
, 12.1% in 1942
, and 29.2% in the 1950 election
, the last to be held prior to the 1952 Revolution which ended Egypt's multi-party system
.
in Egypt was held on 23 June 1956. The electorate agreed with the adoption of the new 1956 constitution, and with the election of Gamal Abdel Nasser
as President of Egypt
.
Head of State
A head of state is the individual that serves as the chief public representative of a monarchy, republic, federation, commonwealth or other kind of state. His or her role generally includes legitimizing the state and exercising the political powers, functions, and duties granted to the head of...
– a president
President
A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
– and a bicameral
Bicameralism
In the government, bicameralism is the practice of having two legislative or parliamentary chambers. Thus, a bicameral parliament or bicameral legislature is a legislature which consists of two chambers or houses....
legislature
Legislature
A legislature is a kind of deliberative assembly with the power to pass, amend, and repeal laws. The law created by a legislature is called legislation or statutory law. In addition to enacting laws, legislatures usually have exclusive authority to raise or lower taxes and adopt the budget and...
.
The President of the Republic
President of Egypt
The President of the Arab Republic of Egypt is the head of state of Egypt.Under the Constitution of Egypt, the president is also the supreme commander of the armed forces and head of the executive branch of the Egyptian government....
is elected for a six-year term by popular vote. This election mechanism has been in place since a May 2005 amendment to the Egyptian Constitution
Constitution of Egypt
The Constitution of the Arab Republic of Egypt was the fundamental law of Egypt. It was adopted on September 11, 1971 through a public referendum. It was later amended in 1980, 2005 and 2007. It was proclaimed to update the democratic representative system in assertion of the rule of law,...
. Previously, the president was nominated by the People's Assembly and the nomination was confirmed by popular referendum.
Suffrage is universal and compulsory for every Egyptian citizen over 18. Failure to vote can result in fine or even imprisonment.http://www.nationmaster.com/country/eg/dem However, perhaps due to lax enforcementhttp://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/dem_com_vot_enf, only about 32 million voters are registered (approximately 40% of the total population). Turnout in 1999 was estimated at around 10%.http://www.forbes.com/work/feeds/afx/2005/09/08/afx2212162.html
The Presidential Election process in Egypt has been criticized by the domestic opposition as well as international observers. The Muslim Brotherhood
Muslim Brotherhood
The Society of the Muslim Brothers is the world's oldest and one of the largest Islamist parties, and is the largest political opposition organization in many Arab states. It was founded in 1928 in Egypt by the Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna and by the late 1940s had an...
, often claimed to be the largest opposition group in Egypt, has long been declared illegal and formally excluded from the political process under the Mubarak government. Other opposition groups boycott Presidential elections, claiming that exclusion of the Muslim Brotherhood (as well as the alleged corruption of the Mubarak government) undermines the credibility of the elections. This has invariably led to a large turnout for Mubarak as he has not had to face the country's real opposition in elections.
The People's Assembly
People's Assembly
People's Assembly refers to various legislative bodies:Ancient:* People's Assembly or Plebeian Council of Ancient Rome* Other Ancient Roman assembliesModern:* People's Assembly of Abkhazia...
(Majlis al-Sha'ab, lower house) has 454 members, 444 members elected for a five-year term (400 by proportional representation
Proportional representation
Proportional representation is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular...
and 44 in single-seat constituencies) and 10 members nominated.
The Shura Council
Shura Council
The Shura Council is the upper house of Egyptian bicameral Parliament. Its name roughly translates into English as "the Consultative Council". The lower house of parliament is the People's Assembly....
(Majilis Al-Shura, upper house) has 264 members. Of these, 174 members are directly elected and the remaining 88 are appointed by the President. Council members serve six-year terms, with one half of their number being renewed every third year.
Kingdom of Egypt (1922–1953)
The Kingdom of EgyptKingdom of Egypt
The Kingdom of Egypt was the first modern Egyptian state, lasting from 1922 to 1953. The Kingdom was created in 1922 when the British government unilaterally ended its protectorate over Egypt, in place since 1914. Sultan Fuad I became the first king of the new state...
was granted nominal independence by the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
on 28 February 1922. Between the Declaration of 1922
Unilateral Declaration of Egyptian Independence
The Unilateral Declaration of Egyptian Independence was issued by the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland on 28 February 1922...
and the Revolution of 1952, ten general elections were held (in 1924, 1925, 1926, 1929, 1931, 1936, 1938, 1942, 1945 and 1950). This era is generally known as Egypt's Liberal Experiment
Egypt's Liberal Experiment
Egypt's "Liberal Experiment" took place between 1924 and 1936.The Wafd Party saw independence and constitutional government linked. While the British did not agree with full independence, they certainly liked the idea of European-style constitutional government. The country's first elections for...
. Egypt has never recovered the level of political freedom it enjoyed during this period.
During the four elections held between 1924 and 1929, candidates from the Coptic Christian
Copt
The Copts are the native Egyptian Christians , a major ethnoreligious group in Egypt....
minority received 15 to 23 seats. Copts received four seats in 1931, six in 1938, 12 in 1945, and five in 1950. The opposition's share of seats also varied throughout this period. The opposition won 15.1% of the seats in the 1924 election
Egyptian parliamentary election, 1924
Parliamentary elections were held in two stages in Egypt in 1923 and 1924, the first since nominal independence from the United Kingdom in 1922. The result was a victory for the Wafd Party, which won 188 of the 215 seats.-Background:...
, 18.9% in 1926
Egyptian parliamentary election, 1926
Parliamentary elections were held in Egypt on 24 May 1926. The result was a victory for the Wafd Party, which won 150 of the 215 seats.-Results:...
, 6.9% in 1929
Egyptian parliamentary election, 1929
Parliamentary elections were held in Egypt on 21 December 1929. The result was a victory for the Wafd Party, which won 198 of the 236 seats.-Results:...
, 18.1% in 1936
Egyptian parliamentary election, 1936
Parliamentary elections were held in Egypt in May 1936. The result was a victory for the Wafd Party, which won 169 of the 232 seats.-Results:...
, 12.1% in 1942
Egyptian parliamentary election, 1942
Parliamentary elections were held in Egypt in March 1942. The election was boycotted by the opposition, and the ruling Wafd Party won 240 of the 264 seats.-Results:...
, and 29.2% in the 1950 election
Egyptian parliamentary election, 1950
Parliamentary elections were held in Egypt on 3 January 1950, with a second round on 10 January. In the parliament of 319-seats, 225 went to the Wafd Party, 28 to the Sa'd Party, 26 to the Liberal Constitutionalist Party, and 40 to minor parties and independents.-Results:...
, the last to be held prior to the 1952 Revolution which ended Egypt's multi-party system
Multi-party system
A multi-party system is a system in which multiple political parties have the capacity to gain control of government separately or in coalition, e.g.The Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition in the United Kingdom formed in 2010. The effective number of parties in a multi-party system is normally...
.
| Electoral year | Total seats in the Chamber of Deputies |
Wafd Party | Big Landowners | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seats won | Percentage | Seats won | Percentage | ||
| 1924 Egyptian parliamentary election, 1924 Parliamentary elections were held in two stages in Egypt in 1923 and 1924, the first since nominal independence from the United Kingdom in 1922. The result was a victory for the Wafd Party, which won 188 of the 215 seats.-Background:... |
214 | 181 | 84.6 | 93 | 43.5 |
| 1925 Egyptian parliamentary election, 1925 Parliamentary elections were held in Egypt on 23 March 1925. The elections saw the Wafd Party lose over half of its seats.-Results:... |
214 | 113 | 52.8 | 95 | 44.4 |
| 1926 Egyptian parliamentary election, 1926 Parliamentary elections were held in Egypt on 24 May 1926. The result was a victory for the Wafd Party, which won 150 of the 215 seats.-Results:... |
214 | 172 | 80.4 | 105 | 49.1 |
| 1929 Egyptian parliamentary election, 1929 Parliamentary elections were held in Egypt on 21 December 1929. The result was a victory for the Wafd Party, which won 198 of the 236 seats.-Results:... |
235 | 212 | 90.2 | 108 | 45.9 |
| 1931 | 150 | 0 | 0.0 | 58 | 38.7 |
| 1936 Egyptian parliamentary election, 1936 Parliamentary elections were held in Egypt in May 1936. The result was a victory for the Wafd Party, which won 169 of the 232 seats.-Results:... |
232 | 180 | 77.6 | 112 | 48.3 |
| 1938 | 264 | 14 | 5.3 | 131 | 49.6 |
| 1942 Egyptian parliamentary election, 1942 Parliamentary elections were held in Egypt in March 1942. The election was boycotted by the opposition, and the ruling Wafd Party won 240 of the 264 seats.-Results:... |
264 | 203 | 76.9 | 93 | 35.2 |
| 1945 Egyptian parliamentary election, 1945 Parliamentary elections were held in Egypt in January 1945. Boycotted by the Wafd Party, they resulted in a victory for the Saadist Institutional Party, which won 125 of the 264 seats.-Results:... |
285 | 0 | 0.0 | 123 | 43.2 |
| 1950 Egyptian parliamentary election, 1950 Parliamentary elections were held in Egypt on 3 January 1950, with a second round on 10 January. In the parliament of 319-seats, 225 went to the Wafd Party, 28 to the Sa'd Party, 26 to the Liberal Constitutionalist Party, and 40 to minor parties and independents.-Results:... |
317 | 157 | 49.5 | 119 | 37.5 |
2005 Presidential election
2005 Parliamentary election
Referendums
The first referendumReferendum
A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of...
in Egypt was held on 23 June 1956. The electorate agreed with the adoption of the new 1956 constitution, and with the election of Gamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein was the second President of Egypt from 1956 until his death. A colonel in the Egyptian army, Nasser led the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 along with Muhammad Naguib, the first president, which overthrew the monarchy of Egypt and Sudan, and heralded a new period of...
as President of Egypt
President of Egypt
The President of the Arab Republic of Egypt is the head of state of Egypt.Under the Constitution of Egypt, the president is also the supreme commander of the armed forces and head of the executive branch of the Egyptian government....
.
External links
- jadaliyya.com Egypt Elections Watch
- Aswatna Virutal Resource Center a central resource for electoral information in Egypt
- Global Integrity Report: Egypt has analysis of election integrity in Egypt.
- Adam Carr's Election Archive
- IDEA Report on Egypt
- Elections in Egypt, Human Rights WatchHuman Rights WatchHuman Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
, 2010