CAIRO: The Higher Education Ministry announced in a statement Monday it banned the candidacy of pro-Muslim Brotherhood students from running elections for student unions throughout Egypt’s public universities, Al Ahram reported Monday.
The ban also applies for university students who are members in the 6 April and the Revolutionary Socialists movements, according to the statement.
“The ban is based on court rulings designating the Muslim Brotherhood group as terrorist organization and banning the activities of the 6 April Youth Movement,” source at the ministry told Al Ahram Monday.
According to the schedule set by the ministry, the submission of candidacy applications started Monday while a list of the initial candidates will be released Nov. 5.
Minister of Higher Education Ashraf el-Shehy announced appeals to be submitted starting from Nov 5 while the final candidates list is scheduled to be released Nov. 10.
Campaigning will take place from 11-15 November and election day will be on 16 November, he added.
“The elections are carried out according to the bylaws set by the High Council of Universities (HCU,) which stipulate that student union elections must be held no later than six weeks after the start of the academic year,” the minister said.
The university students’ elections were cancelled in 2013 and 2014 due to the escalating on-campus protests and deadly clashes between security forces and university students across Egypt in which dozens of students were killed and hundreds were jailed.