Egyptians were to vote yesterday in the first stage of elections for the upper house of parliament, with Islamists seeking to repeat the success they enjoyed in elections for the lower house.
Voting for the Shura council will be held over two stages ending in the middle of next month and follow a lower house election that was Egypt’s most democratic since military officers overthrew the king in 1952.
The series of elections for both houses of parliament are the first since former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak was toppled from the presidency on Feb. 11 last year by a popular uprising.
The Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group banned during his rule, won 47 percent of the seats in the lower house, more than any other party.
“The Shura council elections are as important as the People’s Assembly [lower house] elections,” said Hussein Ibrahim, a member of the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party and head of its parliamentary bloc.
“Members of both chambers will choose the committee that will draft the constitution, the milestone of Egypt’s democratic transition,” he said.
Under an interim Constitution, parliament is responsible for picking the 100-strong assembly that will write a new constitution to replace the one that helped keep Mubarak in power for three decades.
Elections for the Shura Council have traditionally been less intense than lower house because of the breadth of constituencies that makes it harder for voters to know their candidates.
The Shura chamber’s powers are limited and it cannot block legislation in the lower house. However, its members must be consulted before lower house members of parliament pass any bill.
Ninety of the Shura council’s 270 seats will be decided in the first round of voting held yesterday and today, with run-offs on Feb. 7. Another 90 will be determined by voting on Feb. 14 and Feb. 15, with run-offs on Feb. 22.
The remaining 90 will be appointed by Egypt’s next president, expected to be elected in June.
“The elected part of the Shura council will convene without the appointed seats until presidential elections are held and the new president appoints the other 90 members,” an official from the body overseeing the election said.
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