Egypt's Sisi approves new parliamentary election law

CAIRO - Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi ratified amendments to an election law regulating electoral constituencies late Thursday, paving the way for setting a date for the long-delayed parliamentary poll, state-run news agency MENA reported.

The new law allocates 448 seats to individual candidates and 120 seats to winner-takes-all lists, with quotas for youth, women,

Christians and workers, compared to 420 seats for individuals and 120 for lists in the previous law.

The new law also reduces constituencies from which individual candidates will be elected from 237 to 205, while maintaining four constituencies for the party lists.

Earlier this week, the cabinet approved three draft election laws. In addition to the one ratified by Sisi on Thursday, the other two laws regulate the workings of the house of representatives and the exercising of political rights respectively.

Egypt has been without a parliament since June 2012, when a court dissolved the lower chamber after ruling that it was not constitutionally elected.

The poll was previously scheduled for last March, but a court ruled that part of the electoral district law regulating the individual seats system was unconstitutional.

Earlier this week, Egypt's minister of parliamentary elections and transitional justice said that the long-awaited vote might be held as early as September.

In April, Sisi said the election would be held before the end of this year.