Egyptian President Signs Laws, Allowing to Schedule Parliamentary Elections

CAIRO (Sputnik) — Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi signed the electoral laws that allow setting up the parliamentary election date, local media reported.

“The High Election Committee (HEC) is to announce the parliament elections’ schedule next week after the inauguration of the New Suez Canal [ceremony is scheduled for August 6],” Egyptian Justice Minister Ibrahim el-Heneidy said, as quoted by The Cairo Post website on Sunday.

The laws, signed by Sisi, also increase the number of individual seats in parliament and give the president the right to appoint 5 percent of total number of parliamentarians.

In March, Egyptian High Electoral Commission postponed the first round of the country's parliamentary elections, which were to take place March 21 after a part of election law was declared unconstitutional.

Egypt has been mired in political turbulence since the ouster of its first democratically elected president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, following a series of mass anti-government protests. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has served as Egypt's de-facto president since the coup and came into power officially last May. The parliament was not elected since Morsi’s deposition.