Government of Egypt - Political Parties and Elections

Political Parties and Elections

According to the Egyptian Constitution, political parties are allowed to exist. Religious political parties are not allowed as it would not respect the principle of non-interference of religion in politics and that religion has to remain in the private sphere to respect all beliefs. Also forbidden are political parties supporting militia formations or having an agenda that is contradictory to the constitution and its principles, or threatening the country's stability such as national unity between Muslim Egyptians and Christian Egyptians.

As of 2012, there are more than 40 registered political parties in Egypt. The largest are Freedom and Justice Party, al-Nour Party, New Wafd Party, Free Egyptians Party, Justice Party, Wasat Party, Egyptian Social Democratic Party, and Coalition of the Youth of the Revolution.


e • d Summary of the 2011 election for People's Assembly of Egypt
Party Ideology Votes Vote % PR Seats FPTP Seats Total Seats Component Parties
Democratic Alliance for Egypt
 Islamist -
Muslim Brotherhood		 10,138,134 37.5 127 108 235
Islamist Bloc
 Islamist - Salafi 7,534,266 27.8 96 25
or 27		 121
or 123
New Wafd Party National liberal 2,480,391 9.2 37 4 41
Egyptian Bloc Social liberal 2,402,238 8.9 33 2
or 1		 35
or 34
Al-Wasat Party Moderate Islamist 989,003 3.7 10 0 10
The Revolution Continues Alliance Leftist 745,863 2.8 7 2 9
Reform and Development Party Liberal 604,415 2.2 8 1 9
Freedom Party NDP offshoot 514,029 1.9 4 0 4
National Party of Egypt NDP offshoot 425,021 1.6 4 1 5
Egyptian Citizen Party NDP offshoot 235,395 0.9 3 1 4
Union Party NDP offshoot 141,382 0.5 2 0 2
Conservative Party NDP offshoot 272,910 1.0 0 1 1
Democratic Peace Party NDP offshoot 248,281 0.9 1 0 1
Justice Party Center 184,553 0.7 0 1 1
Arab Egyptian Unity Party NDP offshoot 149,253 0.6 1 0 1
Nasserist Party Nasserist 1 0 1
Independents Independents - - - 21 21
Total elected elected MPs 27,065,135 100.00 332 166 498
SCAF appointees non-elected MPs - - - - 10
Total MPs - - - - 508

e • d Summary of the 23–24 May and 16–17 June 2012 Egyptian presidential election results
Candidates Parties 1st round 2nd round
Votes % Votes %
Mohamed Morsi Freedom and Justice Party 5,764,952 24.78% 13,230,131 51.73%
Ahmed Shafik Independent 5,505,327 23.66% 12,347,380 48.27%
Hamdeen Sabahi Dignity Party 4,820,273 20.72%
Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh Independent 4,065,239 17.47%
Amr Moussa Independent 2,588,850 11.13%
Mohammad Salim Al-Awa Independent 235,374 1.01%
Khaled Ali Independent 134,056 0.58%
Abu Al-Izz Al-Hariri Socialist Popular Alliance Party 40,090 0.17%
Hisham Bastawisy National Progressive Unionist Party 29,189 0.13%
Mahmoud Houssam Independent 23,992 0.10%
Mohammad Fawzi Issa Democratic Generation Party 23,889 0.10%
Houssam Khairallah Democratic Peace Party 22,036 0.09%
Abdulla Alashaal Authenticity Party 12,249 0.05%
Total valid votes 23,265,516 98.28% 25,577,511 96.81%
Invalid votes 406,720 1.72% 843,252 3.19%
Turnout 23,672,236 46.42% 26,420,763 51.85%
Abstentions 27,324,510 53.58% 24,538,031 48.15%
Registered voters 50,996,746 50,958,794
Source:
e • d Summary of the 2012 elections for the Shura Council
Party Proportional representation FPTP Total
seats
Votes % Seats Seats
Freedom and Justice Party 2,894,922 45.04 56 49 105
Islamist Bloc 1,840,014 28.63 38 7 45
New Wafd Party 543,417 8.45 14 0 14
Egyptian Bloc 348,957 5.43 8 0 8
Freedom Party 84,936 1.32 3 0 3
Democratic Peace Party 95,273 1.48 1 0 1
Independents – – – 4 4
Presidential appointees – – – – 90
Total 6,427,666 100 120 60 270
Life in Egypt

Read more about this topic:  Government Of Egypt

Famous quotes containing the words political parties, political, parties and/or elections:

    “Politics is, as it were, the gizzard of society, full of grit and gravel, and the two political parties are its two opposite halves,—sometimes split into quarters, it may be, which grind on each other.”
    —Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    “My business is stanching blood and feeding fainting men; my post the open field between the bullet and the hospital. I sometimes discuss the application of a compress or a wisp of hay under a broken limb, but not the bearing and merits of a political movement. I make gruel—not speeches; I write letters home for wounded soldiers, not political addresses.”
    —Clara Barton (1821–1912)

    “All parties attempt to represent important things that have developed outside themselves as unimportant, and where they fail in this they assail those things all the more bitterly the more admirable they are.”
    —Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)

    “In my public statements I have earnestly urged that there rested upon government many responsibilities which affect the moral and spiritual welfare of our people. The participation of women in elections has produced a keener realization of the importance of these questions and has contributed to higher national ideals. Moreover, it is through them that our national ideals are ingrained in our children.”
    —Herbert Hoover (1874–1964)