CAIRO: The Ministry of Education has allocated 11, 082 schools across the country to act as polling stations in the forthcoming parliament elections, scheduled to kick off Oct 18.
The Ministry has warned the directors of these schools from allowing candidates to use the buildings for their electioneering campaign. Thus far, the ministry has not decided yet whether the students at these schools will take vacations on the elections days.
The electoral campaigning period began Sept. 29 and is scheduled to last until Oct. 16; a campaign silence starts at noon this day, according to the timetable set by the High Elections Committee (HEC.)
A total of 5,420 candidates and nine lists have been accepted to run in the first phase of parliamentary elections, the High Elections Committee (HEC) announced mid-September.
The first phase elections will take place in 14 governorates including Giza, Alexandria and Asyut.
Egypt’s House of Representatives will comprise of 596 members, with 448 to be elected as independents, 120 through the winner-take-all party lists system, with 28 seats to be appointed by the president, HEC announced in a news conference late August.
Egypt has not had a parliament since June 2012, after the Islamist-dominated People’s Assembly was dissolved per a court order about six months after its election.