The court objected specifically to altering the boundary of Cairo’s seventh constituency and the redistribution of constituencies in the southern governorate of Qena.
The constituency division law was issued in its final form by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on July 9 in the official Gazette. On July 16, however, Mehleb published a retraction of this law concerning two constituencies, claiming there was a mistake in the division schedules.
The retraction added the city of Qeft to the main Qenaconstituency, making it a larger area in which critics say it may be more difficult for candidates to campaign. Mehleb’sdivision also designated the city of Qous as a small constituency of its own.
The state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper suggested Mehleb’sintervention violates the Constitution, which stipulates that only the president is allowed to issue legislation in the absence of a parliament.
But, the same law was deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC) on March 1, which led to postponing the election process altogether, which was originally scheduled to take place at the end of the month.
The Administrative Court also ruled in another verdict on Monday that all candidates who underwent medical examinations in March before the elections were postponed should take them again.
This decision led to the Nedaa Misr Coalition (Egypt’s Call), composed of a number of smaller political parties and groups, threatening to withdraw from the elections, according to the privately owned Youm 7 newspaper. Coalition representatives said it would be difficult for them to conduct all the examinations for candidates again.
Researcher at the Regional Center for Parliamentary Research and Counselling Mohamed Bakr explained to Mada Masr that there is a possibility that the elections might be further postponed following the court rulings, especially if more than two constituencies are affected.
The problem in the seventh Cairo district — the New Cairo district — is that Mehleb, as Bakr detailed, changed the names of the geographical locations within the constituency. If they are amended back to the July 9 versions, he explained, there should be no further problems, but, if the geographical location is extended to other neighboring constituencies, like Sharqiya for example, this could affect the entire process.
Bakr also recommended isolating Qena temporarily from the elections, so it doesn’t affect the entire process, and adding it to a third stage of voting, which he says is within the power of the president to do. He added, “We need to wait to see how much these mishaps will affect the elections. But the process will be affected.”
Dostour Party overturns decision to boycott
In a major move, the liberal Dostour Party spokesperson Khaled Dawood told Reuters-run news website AswatMasriya that the party has retracted its earlier decision to boycott the elections.
The party declared in February that it wouldn’t participate unless five key demands were met. Dawood explained on Monday that three of them have been so far, including achieving justice for activist Shaimaa al-Sabbagh, who was killed by police forces in January this year.
The spokesperson explained that there are internal disagreements within the party regarding this decision, with younger members campaigning to stick to the boycott. This debate previously prompted party head Hala Shukrallah to submit her resignation.
A splinter group, “Together We Can,” is contesting the party’s internal elections and insisting on boycotting. In a statement on Monday they said, “Reality has proven that the party’s earlier demands were true.”
The group referenced what they see as a corrupt legal framework regulating the process, amid an atmosphere that they say supports a strong comeback of former regime officials, who use nepotism and money to win more seats. They also cited a generally repressive environment concerning restrictive laws like the infamous Protest Law and laws governing NGOs.
The statement by the splinter group asserted that the party has no right to overturn a previous collective decision to boycott, as they claim conditions have not changed.
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