Egypt votes for a Senate despite little government opposition

On August 4th Egyptian citizens began voting for the Senate, the upper chamber of parliament in Egypt, in an election with limited opposition to the government party, according to The National.

Egypt’s Senate is made up of 300 seats, 100 of which will be appointed by President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, and 200 are being elected. 9,000 polling stations across Egypt are under judicial supervision to carry out the election.

President Sisi was reelected for his third term with 89.6% of the vote in December 2023.

Results of the elections are due to be announced on August 12th, barring any need for a recount, and then will convene for a five-year term.

The Senate is seen mostly as symbolic in Egypt- it has no legislative authority, instead acting as an advisory body.

Its responsibilities include reviewing constitutional amendments, laws, and policies to be passed on to the House of Representatives.

The Egyptian House of Representatives is the more powerful body in parliament, and the pro-government forces dominate there.

Of the 200 seats being elected, 100 of them are reserved for individual candidates for which there are 428 candidates competing. 186 of these candidates are independents and 242 are party-affiliated.

The remaining 100 seats are expected to be secured by a coalition of 13 political parties called the “National List for Egypt”.

The coalition includes longtime opposition parties, for example the liberal party Wafd, and newer parties, for example the National Front which is led by a former minister and backed by a businessman who is a close ally of President Al-Sisi.

Sisi and the Prime Minister of Egypt, Mostafa Madbouly, cast their votes in a televised ceremony on the morning of August 4th, but overall there has been little to no interest from Egyptian citizens and the press in the election despite significant campaigning, according to The National.

Rights groups have said that political freedom is tightly restricted in Egypt, regardless of an initiative launched by the government in 2022 to engage opposition voices.

Egypt is known to have political prisoners, and on March 3rd the eighth political prisoner to have died due to medical negligence in two months was reported.

The National/Maghrebi