The exact dates of the first parliamentary vote since the January 25 revolution will be announced after September 18, General Mamdouh Shaheen told a news conference in Cairo.
The vote was originally scheduled for September but it was delayed to allow political parties more time to prepare.
“The delay was in response to demands by various political forces, parties and groups established after the revolution to have more time to get organized,” General Shaheen said.
The elections will be held over 3 stages, with 15 days between each round and would be based on a mixed system combining a party list and single-seat system, General Shaheen added.
Farmers and workers will have 50% of seats, and women have lost their quota advantage previously introduced by ousted President Hosni Mubarak’s government.
The army has promised the vote will be fair and transparent and will be under the supervision of judges only.
“The army’s role during the elections will be to provide security only. Only the judiciary will monitor,” General Shaheen said.
The new rules signal a return to the kind of judicial supervision used for elections in 2005, which brought the opposition Muslim Brotherhood, the best organized political force in Egypt after the dissolution of the NDP, its first seats in parliament.
Source: mbc/Al Arabiya; Press Agencies
