Elections in Egypt

Elections in Egyptare held for thepresidentand abicamerallegislature. The president of Egypt is elected for a six-year term by popular vote after draft amendments to the 2013 constitution altered the presidential term limits from the original four years to six years.^[1]

Suffrage is universal and compulsory for every Egyptian citizen over 18. Failure to vote can result in a fine or even imprisonment,^[2]but in practice, a significant percentage of eligible voters do not vote. About 63 million voters are registered to vote out of a population of more than 100 million.^[3]Turnout in the2011 parliamentary electionwas 54%.^[4]Egypt was ranked 9th least electoraldemocracy in the Middle East and North Africaaccording toV-Dem Democracy indicesin 2023 with a score of 0.175 out of 1.^[5]^[6]

Kingdom of Egypt (1922–1953)[edit]

TheKingdom of Egyptwas granted nominal independence by the United Kingdom on 28 February 1922. Between theDeclaration of 1922and theRevolution of 1952,ten general elections were held (in 1924, 1925, 1926, 1929, 1931, 1936, 1938, 1942, 1945 and 1950).^[7]This era is generally known asEgypt's Liberal Experiment.Egypt has never recovered the level ofpolitical freedomit enjoyed during this period.^[8]

During the four elections held between 1924 and 1929, candidates from theCoptic Christianminority received 15 to 23 seats. Copts received four seats in 1931, six in 1938, 12 in 1945, and five in 1950.^[9]The opposition's share of seats also varied throughout this period. The opposition won 15.1% of the seats in the1924 election,18.9% in1926,6.9% in1929,18.1% in1936,12.1% in1942,and 29.2% in the1950 election,the last to be held before the 1952 Revolution which ended Egypt'smulti-party system.^[10]

Electoral performance of theWafd Partyand Big Landowners during the monarchy^[11]
Electoral year	Total seats in the Chamber of Deputies	Wafd Party		Big Landowners
Electoral year	Total seats in the Chamber of Deputies	Seats won	Percentage	Seats won	Percentage
1924	214	181	84.6	93	43.5
1925	214	113	52.8	95	44.4
1926	214	172	80.4	105	49.1
1929	235	212	90.2	108	45.9
1931	150	0	0.0	58	38.7
1936	232	180	77.6	112	48.3
1938	264	14	5.3	131	49.6
1942	264	203	76.9	93	35.2
1945	285	0	0.0	123	43.2
1950	317	157	49.5	119	37.5

Elections under the Mubarak regime[edit]

2005 presidential election[edit]

Under the Mubarak era, the Egyptian presidential election of 2005 was the first-evermulti-party,multi-candidate contested presidential election inEgypt's history, made under the 2005/2007 constitutional amendments to the 1971 Constitution of Egypt. Despite its significance, the election was marred byvoter fraud,ballot stuffing,boycotts, intimidation, vote-buying, and protests by opposition groups, leading to a low turnout of under 30%. Before the 2005 election, thepresident of Egyptwas nominated by a two-thirds majority of the rubber-stampPeople's Assemblyand approved under a referendum process that resembles ashow electioninauthoritariancountries.

2010 parliamentary elections[edit]

Under the Mubarak era, ThePeople's AssemblyandShura Councilwere elected under an electoral system ofsingle member plurality.Along with the combination of voter fraud, ballot stuffing, intimidation, and lack of judicial and international supervision, this ensured theNDPa super-majority win of seats for both houses. TheMuslim Brotherhoodwas not recognized as a political party by the law, but its members were allowed to run as independents.

Latest elections[edit]

2020 Senate election[edit]

2023 presidential election[edit]

2020 parliamentary election[edit]

Next elections[edit]

Egyptian presidential elections are held using a two-round system; the next election should be held in 2024.

TheHouse of Representativessits for a five-year term but can be dissolved earlier by the president.

Referendums[edit]

The firstreferendumin Egypt was held on 23 June 1956. The electorate agreed with the adoption of the new1956 constitution,and with the election ofGamal Abdel NasserasPresident of Egypt.^[12]

References[edit]

^Yeranian, Edward (14 February 2019)."Egypt's Parliament Moves to Extend Presidential Term Limits".VOA News.Retrieved14 February2019.
^"Top stats for Egypt: Country profile".nationmaster.
^"Egyptian elections preliminary results".jadaliyya.
^"Muslim Brotherhood tops Egyptian poll result".Al Jazeera.Retrieved17 June2013.
^V-Dem Institute (2023)."The V-Dem Dataset".Retrieved14 October2023.
^Democracy Report 2023, Table 3, V-Dem Institute, 2023
^Caldwell, J. A. M. (1966).Dustūr: A Survey of the Constitutions of the Arab and Muslim States.Reprinted with additional material from the 2nd ed. ofEncyclopaedia of Islam.Leiden: Brill. p. 29.OCLC 255757167.Retrieved2010-07-21.There had been ten general elections held from 1924 to 1952. These were the elections of 1924, 1925, 1926, 1929, 1931, 1936, 1938, 1942, 1945, and 1950.
^"Polity IV Regime Trends: Egypt, 1946–2008".Polity data series.Center for Systemic Peace.Retrieved2010-07-21.
^Mansour, Atallah (2004).Narrow Gate Churches: The Christian Presence in the Holy Land under Muslim and Jewish Rule.Pasadena, CA: Hope Publishing House. p. 110.ISBN 978-1-932717-02-0.Retrieved2010-07-22.
^Quandt, William B.(1988).The Middle East: Ten Years After Camp David.Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press. p. 75.ISBN 978-0-8157-7293-4.Retrieved2010-07-22.
^Ansari, Hamied (1986).Egypt, the Stalled Society.SUNY series in Near Eastern studies. Albany: State University of New York Press. p. 71.ISBN 978-0-88706-183-7.Retrieved2010-07-23.
^Marques, Alvaro; Smith, Thomas B. (April 1984). "Referendums in the Third World".Electoral Studies.3(1): 85–105.doi:10.1016/0261-3794(84)90025-8.ISSN 0261-3794.There have been 13 referendums in Egypt, the first one being held on 23 June 1956 when voters were asked to approve or disapprove of Nasser and the constitution.^{[dead link]}

Bibliography[edit]

Landau, Jacob M. (1953).Parliaments and Parties in Egypt(PhD thesis). Tel Aviv: Israel Pub. House.OCLC 3263523.Retrieved2010-07-23.
den Hartog, Michael (1996–1998).A Two-Way Approach to Stability in the Arab Southern Mediterranean Coastal States: Theories on Democracy and International Cooperation Applied to Developments Regarding Political Stability in Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia(PDF)(Report). NATO Academic Forum.Retrieved2011-04-10.

External links[edit]

Egypt Elections Watch–Jadaliyya
Aswatna Virtual Resource Centera central resource for electoral information in Egypt
Global Integrity Report: Egypthas an analysis of election integrity in Egypt.
Adam Carr's Election Archive
IDEA Report on Egypt
Elections in Egypt,Human Rights Watch,2010

[1] Yeranian, Edward (14 February 2019)."Egypt's Parliament Moves to Extend Presidential Term Limits".VOA News.Retrieved14 February2019.

[2] "Top stats for Egypt: Country profile".nationmaster.

[jadaliyyaElectionResults-3] "Egyptian elections preliminary results".jadaliyya.

[4] "Muslim Brotherhood tops Egyptian poll result".Al Jazeera.Retrieved17 June2013.

[vdem_dataset-5] V-Dem Institute (2023)."The V-Dem Dataset".Retrieved14 October2023.

[vdem_report-6] Democracy Report 2023, Table 3, V-Dem Institute, 2023

[7] Caldwell, J. A. M. (1966).Dustūr: A Survey of the Constitutions of the Arab and Muslim States.Reprinted with additional material from the 2nd ed. ofEncyclopaedia of Islam.Leiden: Brill. p. 29.OCLC 255757167.Retrieved2010-07-21.There had been ten general elections held from 1924 to 1952. These were the elections of 1924, 1925, 1926, 1929, 1931, 1936, 1938, 1942, 1945, and 1950.

[8] "Polity IV Regime Trends: Egypt, 1946–2008".Polity data series.Center for Systemic Peace.Retrieved2010-07-21.

[9] Mansour, Atallah (2004).Narrow Gate Churches: The Christian Presence in the Holy Land under Muslim and Jewish Rule.Pasadena, CA: Hope Publishing House. p. 110.ISBN 978-1-932717-02-0.Retrieved2010-07-22.

[10] Quandt, William B.(1988).The Middle East: Ten Years After Camp David.Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press. p. 75.ISBN 978-0-8157-7293-4.Retrieved2010-07-22.

[11] Ansari, Hamied (1986).Egypt, the Stalled Society.SUNY series in Near Eastern studies. Albany: State University of New York Press. p. 71.ISBN 978-0-88706-183-7.Retrieved2010-07-23.

[12] Marques, Alvaro; Smith, Thomas B. (April 1984). "Referendums in the Third World".Electoral Studies.3(1): 85–105.doi:10.1016/0261-3794(84)90025-8.ISSN 0261-3794.There have been 13 referendums in Egypt, the first one being held on 23 June 1956 when voters were asked to approve or disapprove of Nasser and the constitution.^{[dead link]}

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v t e Elections and referendums in Egypt
Presidential elections	1956 1958 1965 1970 1976 1981 1987 1993 1999 2005 2012 2014 2018 2023
Parliamentary elections	1883 1889 1895 1901 1907 1913 1923–24 1925 1926 1929 1936 1942 1945 1950 1957 1964 1969 1971 1976 1979 1984 1987 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2011–12 2015 2020 2025
Senate elections	1980 1983 1986 1989 1992 1995 1998 2001 2004 2007 2010 2012 2020
Municipal elections	2008 Next
Referendums	1956 1958 1968 1971 (1 Sep) 1971 (11 Sep) 1974 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1987 1990 2005 2007 2011 2012 2014 2019

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