By: ANSAmed
Source: ANSAmed
Egypt’s High Election Commission will announce the details of the country’s upcoming elections on Saturday, Administrative and Local Development Minister Adel Labib said Wednesday. The deadline for candidates and the date of voting will be announced at that time.
The only candidate to announce his bid so far is the Nasserite Hamdeen Sabbahi, head of the Popular Current party, while Defence Minister Field Marshall Abdel Fatah El-Sisi is expected to announce his soon and is widely believed to be the only one with a real chance of winning. In recent days interim president Adly Mansour has been promoting an election law for the upcoming presidential vote.
The law renders the electoral commission’s decisions impermeable to any appeal in its Article 7 and has given rise to much criticism, including from Sabbahi and the new leader of the Dostour party (founded by El-Baredei), Hala Shukrallah.
The Council of State recently rejected an amendment to the election law called for by the government, which would have prevented anyone subject to judicial proceedings from taking part in the elections. The regulation aimed to prevent the candidates of former presidents Mohamed Morsi and Hosni Mubarak, but the judges ruled that it would be in conflict with the principle of presumption of innocence for defendants until proven guilty. (ANSAmed).
