Political parties set to fight each other in parliamentary elections

Political parties may jump on the Abdel Fattah El-Sisi bandwagon now but they will fight each other in the parliamentary elections later this year.  The political parties, many of which are new, are weakly organised outside Cairo and have limited resources. It is possible that El- Sisi’s supporters may attempt to create a political alliance that they will present to the electorate candidates that would broadly support his policies.

A number of political parties are advocating that parliamentary elections should be held on “a closed party list” system rather than the open system that the regime seems to prefer. The objective is to find a way of getting voters to make their selections on the basis of policies rather than powerful individuals.

The dissolved National Democratic Party recruited leading families and locally important individuals to help ensure its electoral victories. These families still remain, particularly in the rural areas, and may be tempted to stand as independents and then negotiate their way into parliamentary blocs and, perhaps, ministerial jobs.

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