Off the wire
• 1st LD Writethru: Central Madrid closed to trains, traffic after suspect package found  • Saudi Arabia closes Guinea embassy for Ebola outbreak  • Terror alert raised to highest level in northern France after Paris shooting  • Urgent: Egypt's parliamentary election date fixed  • Urgent: Bomb alert causes chaos in Madrid  • ICBC opens new medium-term note program on Luxembourg Stock Exchange  • Islamic State claims execution of 2 Tunisian journalists in Libya  • Interview: Ghana's oil refinery back in action  • News Analysis: Lithuania firmly believes it will benefit from euro  • U.S. stocks rally midday, Dow up 300 points to turn positive for 2015  
You are here: 　 Home

1st LD: Egypt's parliamentary elections date fixed

Xinhua, January 9, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Egyptian Supreme Election Committee said on Thursday that the much-awaited parliamentary votes will begin from March 21 to May 7.

Choosing a new parliament was a key and final step of the political roadmap announced by the army after it overthrew the country's first freely-elected President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.

According to a law ratified by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi late last month, the parliament will have a total of 567 seats, 420 for independent candidates, 120 for party-based ones and 27 for presidential appointees.

Independent candidates are distributed over 237 electoral districts, and party-based ones are distributed over four large districts, each of which includes a number of provinces.

Sisi, then defense minister and military chief, ousted the Islamist president and announced a three-step roadmap which also includes writing a new constitution and holding a presidential election. Endit