Next Egyptian municipal elections

Public discussion about holding new Egyptian municipal elections has occurred fitfully since provisions for reorganized local councils were established by the 2014 Constitution.[1]

Background

The 2008 Egyptian municipal election were held during the Hosni Mubarak presidency of Egypt. The 52,000 seats were "fixed, sealed and delivered" to the National Democratic Party supporting Mubarak, excluding the Muslim Brotherhood, who had wished to field candidates.[2] The municipal councils were closed down in 2011.[3]

Timeline

2015–2017

Concrete preparations were supposed to have begun in late 2015.[4] In March 2016 Prime Minister Sherif Ismail announced that his government aimed to hold local elections during the first quarter of 2017.[5] This was soon contradicted by a proclamation by President el-Sisi that he had ordered local elections to be held by the end of 2016.[6] Members of the majority 'Support Egypt' bloc in parliament, to the contrary, reported that local elections would be held in the second half of 2017.[7] The Egyptian Council of Localities pointed to this lack of clarity on the date, as well as the absence of a local electoral law to implement the Constitution's provisions, as obstacles to actually holding the elections.[8] By mid-2017 parliament decided to postpone the election until late 2018 or early 2019.[9]

2018–2020

After drafting a local elections law in May 2018, parliament renewed its commitment to hold the election by the end of that year — before the expiration of the existing local administrations in early 2019, as stipulated by the Constitution.[10][11] But the draft law was tabled in parliament pending further discussions, again postponing plans to organize a vote.[12] That November el-Sisi directed that the elections be held early in 2019,[13] but by the following June the president was openly indicating that the proposed elections laws would have to be redrafted before the process got underway.[14] A new draft was eventually submitted by the government to parliament only in late December 2019.[15] Supporters of the original draft law pointed to the apprehension of the security services, heightened by recent protests, behind the repeated delays and resistance to implementing decentralized responsible government.[16]

While parliament was waiting for el-Sisi's new draft law, the president again proclaimed that the elections would be held soon, "in early 2020".[3] But other officials were quick to clarify that this was not seriously to be expected.[17] In early 2020 a number of parliamentarians and jurists stated that if el-Sisi's suggestion of organizing local elections concurrently with elections to the House of Representatives and Senate were implemented, then the local polls might be held at the beginning of 2021.[18] As of 2020, although the national elections proceeded as expected in late 2020, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, no further progress has been made public on organizing local elections.

References

1. "Women and Local Councils Conference in light of the 2014 Constitution". National Council for Women. 17 July 2016. Retrieved 15 September 2020. (in Arabic)
2. El-Ghobashy, Mona (30 September 2010). "The Dynamics of Egypt's Elections". MERIP. Archived from the original on 24 January 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
3. "A presidential directive to freeze Parliament". Mada Masr. 1 October 2019. Archived from the original on 1 October 2019. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
4. "Egyptian parties are preparing for local council elections". Al Bayan. 12 December 2015. Retrieved 15 September 2020. (in Arabic)
5. "Egypt: Local elections may be in the first quarter of 2017". Al Arabiya. 27 March 2016. Retrieved 15 September 2020. (in Arabic)
6. "Sisi orders local elections to be held before the end of 2016". Al Arabiya. 15 April 2016. Retrieved 15 September 2020. (in Arabic)
7. "Egypt: A trend to postpone local elections for the second half of 2017". The New Arab. 12 September 2016. Retrieved 15 September 2020. (in Arabic)
8. "Today: the "Egyptian Presidential Council" is discussing the local elections law". Al-Balad. 1 February 2017. Retrieved 15 September 2020. (in Arabic)
9. "Postponement of local elections in Egypt: security motives or the absence of governmental will". Al Fanar Foundation. 18 July 2017. Retrieved 15 September 2020. (in Arabic)
10. "Egyptian Parliament: Local elections will take place before the end of 2018". Al-Alam News Network. 7 May 2018. Retrieved 15 September 2020. (in Arabic)
11. "Elections in the first half of 2019 ... Local councils are an important step for reform". Mobtada. 5 April 2018. Retrieved 15 September 2020. (in Arabic)
12. "The struggle of the Egyptian bodies closes the file of entitlement: no local elections in Sisi state". The New Arab. 22 July 2018. Retrieved 15 September 2020. (in Arabic)
13. "Egypt: Presidential directives to conduct local elections in early 2019". Mubasher. 16 November 2018. Retrieved 15 September 2020. (in Arabic)
14. "Local elections are on the way". Youm7. 3 June 2019. Retrieved 15 September 2020. (in Arabic)
15. "Egypt: The Law on "Localities" Elections Before Representatives ... An Alert During "Christmas"". Al-Jarida. 22 December 2019. Retrieved 15 September 2020. (in Arabic)
16. "Egyptian jurist: The security services do not want to hold local elections". Arabi21. 24 December 2019. Retrieved 15 September 2020. (in Arabic)
17. "Parliamentarians refute Sisi's words: There are no local elections in Egypt". The New Arab. 4 August 2019. Retrieved 15 September 2020. (in Arabic)
18. "Jurists And MPs: Conducting The Three Elections Simultaneously Is Not Against The Constitution". Al Ahaly. 26 February 2020. Retrieved 15 September 2020. (in Arabic)