Egypt will hold on November 28 its first parliamentary election since a popular revolt ousted president Hosni Mubarak in February, the ruling military announced in a decree yesterday.
Military chief Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi decided that the election would be held “over three rounds staring on November 28,” the official Mena news agency reported.
The second round would be held on December 14, the third on January 3 and the new assembly to convene on March 17, Mena reported.
A three-round senate election will be held from January 29 to March 11.
The military also announced an amended election law under which two-thirds of parliament will be elected through a proportional representation system and the rest through a simple majority.
Only independent candidates are eligible to run for the simple majority seats, according to the law published by Mena.
More than two dozen political parties have rejected the electoral law, saying it could help return old regime figures to parliament.
They demand a pure proportional representation system and the activation of a law that would ban corrupt politicians from running for office.
The military, which took charge of the country after Mr Mubarak’s ouster, suspended Parliament in February.
The house, which will be reduced from 508 to 498 seats, was dominated by members of Mr Mubarak’s now dissolved National Democratic Party after a controversial election in November that saw opposition candidates trounced. The Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, the most influential opposition movement under Mr Mubarak, will contest roughly half of Parliament’s seats in the coming election through its Freedom and Justice Party.
The party has warned against any delay in the election, which secular groups have advocated because they fear the better-organised Islamist parties will snap up the seats.
Dozens of parties, ranging from hardline Islamist to liberal, have sprung up after Mr Mubarak’s resignation on February 11.
One of the parties granted official status by a government committee was founded by Hossam Badrawi, the last secretary general of Mr Mubarak’s National Democratic Party. Badrawi resigned a day before Mr Mubarak stepped down.
Following the parliamentary and senate election, a committee will draft a new constitution to replace Mubarak’s and then presidential elections will be held.
The committee has up to six months to finish its work, meaning the presidential election might not be held until the end of August.
The military had promised that it would not conduct the election under a state of emergency, which was widened in scope this month after protesters ransacked the Israeli embassy in Cairo and clashed with police.
But a military official told state media later that the emergency law could stay in place until mid-2012, although the military wanted to end the state of emergency as soon as possible.
The interior ministry, which was accused of intervening in past elections in favour of the ruling party, has pledged it would work only to secure polling stations from the outside in the coming elections.