Political coalition questions SEC’s neutrality towards parliamentary candidates

Amira El-Fekki
2 Min Read

The Egyptian Front Coalition has reiterated its accusations that the Supreme Electoral Court (SEC) is biased against them.

The coalition said the SEC, instead, favoured the “In love of Egypt” electoral list, operated by Sameh Seif Al-Yazal.

In a Tuesday statement, the coalition said the SEC was “intentionally abstaining” from executing court orders which allow the coalition’s members to run for parliamentary seats elected through closed-list systems.

“They want to clear the way for the ‘In Love of Egypt’ list,” the Egyptian Front Coalition said.

Disputes have been ongoing for several days, with the SEC maintaining it would respect court orders regarding the re-entry of some candidates into the electoral race, after their applications were initially rejected by the SEC.

Candidates were allowed to appeal their refusal before the Administrative Court, with the Egyptian Front Coalition and Tayyar Al-Istiqlal (Independence Current) taking up on this allowance. Their appeal was accepted, and they are now awaiting the SEC’s acceptance of their documents.

“I went to present the documents to the SEC yesterday. The representative who met me left abruptly, telling me he’s got everything and he is waiting for orders from the SEC president,” said Nagy El-Shehaby, president of Al-Geel Democratic Party, part of the Egyptian Front Coalition.

The politician added that the support given to the “In love of Egypt” coalition is a reminder of “the ruling National Democratic Party’s days”. He also accused Al-Yazal’s list of promoting itself as the “state representative”.

The SEC is supposed to announce the names of the accepted candidates on Tuesday after the court completed appeals. Such changes can still occur until 8 October, according to the SEC’s published schedule.

 

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Journalist in DNE's politics section, focusing on human rights, laws and legislations, press freedom, among other local political issues.
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