Cairo: SiltaNews – News Desk
Egypt on Wednesday opened polls for the first day of voting in 19 constituencies where results from the first round of the 2025 House of Representatives elections were annulled over irregularities. Voting also began in the Itsa district of Fayoum, where a runoff is being held between four candidates for two seats, bringing the total number of districts voting on Wednesday and Thursday to 20.
The National Election Authority (NEA) said polling stations opened on schedule at 9 a.m. and will remain open until 9 p.m., adding that voting was proceeding normally in most locations as voters began arriving at stations. A total of 455 candidates are contesting 43 seats across 1,775 polling stations in the 20 districts. The districts span seven governorates: Giza, Alexandria and Beheira in northern Egypt, and Assiut, Sohag, Qena and Fayoum in Upper Egypt.
Irregularities, Presidential Intervention
The NEA had nullified results of individual elections in 19 constitutions on 18 November, based on violations it had documented. The cancellations follow directives by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, who had requested the authority to “thoroughly review the events that occurred in some constituencies where individual candidates competed” and the appeals submitted regarding them.
He asked the authority to “enhance the transparency of procedures by making sure that each candidate’s representative had received a copy of the vote tally from the sub-committee.” The president urged the authority “not to hesitate to make the correct decision when it is not possible to determine the true will of the voters, whether by fully annulling this stage of the elections or partially canceling it in one or more constituencies, provided that the elections for those areas are held at a later date.”
He further requested that the authority publicize the measures taken in response to electoral campaign violations, “to ensure effective monitoring of the campaigns, prevent them from exceeding legal boundaries, and avoid recurrence in the remaining election rounds.”
Figures You Need to Know
Overall, the first phase of the parliamentary vote saw 1,281 individual candidates compete across 70 districts in 14 governorates, with 35 million voters eligible to cast ballots at 5,606 polling stations. The House of Representatives is composed of 568 elected members, with 284 chosen through the closed-list system and 284 through the individual system, alongside a number of members appointed by the president.
Under the list system, the National List for Egypt, which brings together several political parties including Mostaqbal Watan and Humat Al-Watan, both supportive of government policies, is running unopposed in all four list-based districts. The list must secure at least 5% of the total valid votes to be declared successful.
