CAIRO: The Dakahlia Administrative Court has accepted Tuesday an appeal submitted by T.V. presenter Tawfiq Okasha against an earlier decision prevented him from running the parliamentary election, Youm7 reported.
The Tuesday’s court ruling is binding to the High Elections Committee (HEC.)
Last week, the HEC in Dakahlia governorate rejected Okasha’s initial parliamentary candidacy papers and excluded him from running the parliamentary elections over “being unable to provide a valid bank account” used for funding the candidate’s electoral campaign.
The court did not explain why the appeal was accepted but it seems that Okasha has met the conditions set out by the HEC.
The Administrative Court has also accepted Tuesday another appeal submitted by the Egyptian Front and the Independence Current coalition against an earlier HEC decision that excluded its two party-lists in Cairo and Upper Egypt electoral districts from running the elections, according to Youm7.
In a statement issued last week, the HEC justified its decision, saying that the coalition had submitted the required documents for candidacy after Sept. 15, the deadline set by the HEC late August.
According to the timeline set by the HEC, appeals are to be presented from Sept. 17 to 19 while the final say on appeals is scheduled for Sept. 27. The electoral campaign will start Sept. 29 while the first phase of the elections will kick off Oct. 17 in 14 governorates including Giza, Alexandria and Asyut.
“A total of 535 out of 5,941 candidates were disqualified for several reasons including drug use, inadequate education 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 last week.
Steel tycoon Ahmed Ezz is 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.