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Cairo, Aug 19, 2020 – Egypt’s electoral commission said Wednesday that candidates on an electoral list loyal to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi won overwhelmingly in party elections held to a newly-restored upper house last week. But the polling, on August 11 and August 12, brought a turnout of just 14.2 percent out of 63 million eligible voters, according to Lashin Ibrahim, head of the electoral commission.
“These elections were held under extraordinary circumstances with the spread of the coronavirus and soaring summer temperatures,” Ibrahim said on Wednesday in a televised conference. Seats for Egypt’s upper house, which had been in abeyance since 2013, are divided into thirds: one third are reserved for individual candidates, another third are selected through closed party lists, while Sisi will personally appoint the remaining 100 members of the 300-seat Senate.
In the 100 seats reserved for parties, “For Egypt”, an electoral list comprised of 11 parties made up of little known pro-Sisi candidates, won every electoral district, according to the provisional results. The upper house was disbanded after Islamist president Mohamed Morsi’s ouster by the military in 2013.
Under former president Hosni Mubarak, who was toppled in a 2011 popular uprising, it had been largely reserved for the elite and members of his now defunct National Democratic Party. Last year Egyptians overwhelmingly voted in favour of far-reaching constitutional amendments that included the reinstatement of the upper house.
The constitutional changes also boosted Sisi’s control over the judiciary, granted the army even greater influence in political life and could see his rule extended until 2030. The former general — elected president in 2014, a year after leading Morsi’s overthrow — has dismantled most political opposition during his rule with a wide-ranging crackdown on dissidents of all stripes. On social media, Egyptians criticised the low-key elections and barely-known candidates as a “farcical charade” and “useless”.
