CAIRO: A total of 5,420 candidates and nine lists have been accepted to run in the first phase of parliamentary elections slated to kick off Oct. 17, the High Elections Committee (HEC) announced Wednesday.
“A total of 535 out of 5,941 candidates were disqualified for several reasons including drug use, inadequate education degree and draft evasion while five, out of 14 party lists were rejected over either incomplete application documents and late submissions,” HEC spokesperson Amr Marwan said in a news conference Wednesday.
Appeals are to be presented from Sept. 17 to 19 while the final say on appeals is scheduled for Sept. 27, Marwan said, adding that “the electoral campaign will start on Sept. 29 and last for 18 days.”
Four lists of the For the Love of Egypt coalition, two lists from the Nour Party in Cairo and Delta and one list by the Republican Alliance for Social Forces are among the nine accepted lists while lists of the Independent Alliance and the Egyptian Front coalition are among the five rejected.
Steel tycoon Ahmed Ezz and T.V. presenter Tawfiq Okasha are among the rejected candidates while head of Zamalek Football Club Mortada Mansour, spokesperson for the Salafi Nour Party Nader Bakkar and belly dancer Sama al-Masry were among those who will run for the parliamentary elections, According to Youm7.