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Is the Law of the Presidential Elections Constitutional?
Did you know that clause no. 76 of the Egyptian constitution was amended? stating that the presidential elections must be done through the referendum of direct elections between more than one nominee and that the people have the right to choose any of them.
Did you know that a new law was issued? Law no. 174 for the year 2005 to organize the presidential elections and the way of nomination, but there is a suspicion of unconstitutionality on some of the clauses of this law, like:
Clause no. 2 that states “for a nominee to be accepted for the presidency position, he must be supported or advocated by at least 250 members of the people’s, local and consultative councils (not less than 65 members from the people’s council, 25 members from the consultative council and 10 members from every local council in at least 14 governorates), and these members are not allowed to advocate or support more than one nominee”
The LCHR sees that this law violates clause no. 40 of the constitution, as it appears to give every Egyptian the right to nominate himself for the presidency, but with the existing conditions in the text, nomination is only limited to a certain group, these are the people who can obtain the support of the defined number of the members of the people’s, local and consultative councils.
Clause no. 3 that states “the political parties -that were established for at least 5 continuous years before opening the presidency elections, and during this period they were practicing their activities and their members had at least 5% of the people’s and consultative councils chairs- have the right to nominate one of their members for presidency, on the condition that this nominee was a member in this political party for at least one continuous year”
This text violates clause no. 40 of the constitution, as it has arbitrary conditions for the Egyptian political parties and forces that hinder them from nomination for this position.
Clause no. 20 that states “the electoral campaign starts from the first 3 weeks before the defined date for voting till 2 days before that date, and in case of the repetition elections, the electoral campaign starts from the day following the voting results till 12 pm in the day before the defined date for voting for the repetition elections. Electoral campaigning is forbidden by any means (presenting activities, convincing the voters in special and public meeting, publishing and distributing the electoral materials of posters and signs and advertising in the media and press) in other than these defined dates”.
This text gave a very short period for electoral advertising (3 weeks) and that is not enough to make an electoral campaign for presidency in all of Egypt’s governorates, cities and villages. This is a violation to clause no. 40 of the constitution that guaranteed equality among citizens, as the nominee of the ruling party that owns authority and the media has a better chance than the other nominees. The electoral campaigning period should have been at least 6 months so that nominees have equal chances.
Clause no. 25 that states “every nominee for the presidency position has the right to receive financial assistance from the state (5% of the maximum limit of money that should be spent in the electoral campaigns, 2% in the repetition elections) estimated to be half a million Egyptian pounds.
This text leads to wasting the public money owned to the people that must be spent for the development of the society. How could the state distribute money on the nominees to help them in their electoral campaigns?
Practically, it is impossible for all of these conditions to apply on any citizen or party running for presidency but the nominee of the ruling party. Therefore, these conditions violate the right of citizens and the political forces in political participation.
Therefore, CSOs must demand the amendment of these clauses to allow everyone the right in political participation with equal and fair chances to guarantee a free country and a better future for all of us.
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