Egyptian parliamentary polls to start from Nov 28

Egypt`s Supreme Council for Armed Forces (SCAF) issued today a new constitutional declaration involving the electoral laws and dates for elections. The laws have been rejected by more than two dozen political parties.

The parliamentary elections will start on November 28.

They are designed to run in three phases so will end some time next year.

Meanwhile, the elections for Upper House of parliament are expected on January 29. The first session of the parliament is set to convene on March 17 while the first session for the Upper House of parliament is set for March 24.

Meanwhile, the law governing the elections is still being debated by the political powers and movements in the country.

The SCAF set the percentage at two thirds for political party lists versus one third of seats for independent candidates.

More than two dozen political parties are objecting to these laws because they see the presence of independent candidates as an opportunity for selected individuals or remnants of the former regime to wiggle back to parliament.

They are extra anxious the SCAF wants to remain in control of the political scene.

The SCAF has been in power since 1952 so it is difficult to imagine them out of the scene.

But yesterday the head of SCAF, Field Marshall Hussein Tantawi appeared in downtown Cairo wearing a suit and chatted with passers-by. .