CAIRO, 30 June 2005 — Egypt’s Higher Constitutional Court rejected yesterday the new presidential electoral law that will allow multi-candidate presidential elections. The controversial law states that any candidate must prove he has a clean financial record, a certificate showing he performed his military duties and a signed declaration certifying he does not hold a second nationality.
The electoral law stipulates that a 10-member presidential election committee will monitor the election process starting from accepting the candidacy application, making the final list of candidates to announcing the name of the winner.
The election will take place in one day and candidates do not have the right to question the final list of the committee or the results announced after the elections.
The committee, composed of five judges and five public figures chosen by Parliament, will also supervise the funding of the campaigns and exclude any candidate who is proved to be receiving foreign fund and imprison him for at least two years. Candidates are allowed to receive donations from Egyptians or from the parties they represent but the donation should not exceed 2 percent of the campaign financing. All candidates are not allowed to use any type of religious rhetoric in their campaign.
Meanwhile, the opposition Tagammu party yesterday staged a demonstration in front of Parliament to protest against amendments to a package of laws regulating political life in the country.
The group of some 50 party supporters chanted slogans denouncing as cosmetic the changes, whose supporters claim will rejuvenate political life ahead of presidential and legislative elections.
Last week, the Parliament, dominated by President Hosni Mubarak’s National Democratic Party, passed changes to the law governing the exercise of political rights.
