Egyptian Elections

Egyptian Elections

Elections in Egypt are held for the President and a bicameral legislature.

The President of Egypt is elected for a four-year term by popular vote. Previously, the president was nominated by the People's Assembly and confirmed by popular referendum. This is similar to how Syria selects its president.

The People's Assembly (Majlis al-Sha'ab, lower house) has 508 members, 498 members elected for a five-year term by both proportional representation and single-seat constituencies) and 10 members added by the president. Elections to the People's Assembly take place in three phases by governorate with two separate days for the proportional and constituency elections, with runoffs 15 days later (if needed), making a total of 12 unique "election days" held throughout the country.

The Shura Council (Majlis al-Shura, upper house) has 264 members. Of these, 174 members are directly elected and the remaining 90 are appointed by the President. Council members serve six-year terms, with one-half of their number being renewed every third year.

Suffrage is universal and compulsory for every Egyptian citizen over 18. Failure to vote can result in fine or even imprisonment. However, perhaps due to lax enforcement, only about 32 million voters are registered (approximately 40% of the total population). Turnout in 1999 was estimated at around 10%.

Prior to the 2011 revolution which dispossessed Hosni Mubarak, elections in Egypt were criticized by the domestic opposition as well as international observers as being grossly fraudulent, bordering on show elections. The Muslim Brotherhood, often claimed to be the largest opposition group in Egypt, was illegal and formally excluded from the political process until after the revolution. Other opposition groups boycott elections, claiming that exclusion of the Muslim Brotherhood (as well as the alleged corruption of the Mubarak government) undermines the credibility of the elections.