(Cairo, May 8th, 2018) Dr. Ali Abdel-Aal, the head of House of Representatives, announced that the new local administration law will be issued in the near future and that local council elections will be held before the end of 2018.
The Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights (ECWR) praises this important news, which will be the final step in the process of democratic transition, that began in 2011 with the 25th of January revolution.
Following the January 2011 revolution, the local councils were dissolved and since then, there has been no local elections in the country. That led to the lack of supervision and follow-up services provided to citizens.
Ms. Nehad Abul Komsan , ECWR’s Chairwoman, confirms that the upcoming local council elections are a great opportunity for women and female youth. As, Egyptian constitution stipulates in Article no. 180 a quota – granted seats – for women 25% and male and female youth 25%, for the first time in the history of local councils which allocates around 14000 seats for women.
Article 180 stipulates “Every local unit shall elect a local council by direct and secret ballot for a term of four years. A candidate shall be at lease twenty one (21) Gregorian years of age. The law shall regulate the other conditions for candidacy and procedures of election, provided that one quarter of the seats shall be allocated to youth under thirty five (35) years of age and one quarter shall be allocated for women….”
Abul Komsan pointed out that this article is the first precedent in the history of the local councils, which reserved seats for women and female youth throughout Egypt’s governorates and with large numbers that did not exist before. Representation of women in the last local council elections in 2008 did not exceed the representation rate of 5%.
Therefore, Women and female youth should seize the opportunity and prepare themselves to run for the upcoming local council’s elections.
