Egypt Needs Proportional Electoral System
Elections based on single-member districts may contribute to sectarianism, corruption and instability in Egypt.
It seems that Egypt’s new administration is inclined to adopt a “majority election system” with single-member districts for the upcoming parliamentary elections. According to Ali Awad, the constitutional adviser to interim President Adly Mansour and the rapporteur of the 10-member constitutional experts committee, most proposals received by the committee have requested adopting the single-member district system, and not the proportional representation (list) system. He added that this and other controversial issues will be left for the “50-member constituent assembly” to decide upon.
Most secular and even Islamist political parties vocally came out opposing this trend. A statement signed by 24 parties and women’s organizations has requested that the committee amend the constitution by deleting Article 191, which provides for single-member districts in the parliament and local elections, and adopt the proportional lists system for all parliamentary seats at this stage, stressing that this would be an important factor in supporting women’s participation in the political process especially if the law would require political parties to place women near the top of their proportional lists.
