The High Elections Commission (HEC) said on Wednesday that elections would be held on time, despite speculation on Monday that there would be a delay, due to a court objection to the division of two constituencies.

The HEC’s decision, published in Wednesday’s issue of the official Gazette, follows a court ruling annulling a previous amendment to two constituencies in Cairo and Qena by Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb

The court objected specifically to the altering of the boundary of Cairo’s seventh constituency and the redistribution of constituencies in the southern governorate of Qena.

The HEC decided in its Wednesday decision to retract Mehleb’s amendments, in a move that could be seen as a desire on the part of the government to move on with the elections without further delay.

The constituency division law was issued in its final form by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on July 9 in the official Gazette. On July 16, however, Mehleb published a retraction of this law, claiming there was a mistake in the division schedules.

The retraction added the city of Qeft to the main Qena constituency, making it a larger area, in which critics say it may be more difficult for candidates to campaign.

Mehleb’s division also designated the city of Qous as a small constituency of its own, as well as changing the names of districts within Cairo’s seventh constituency, located in New Cairo

The state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper suggested Mehleb’s intervention violates the Constitution, which stipulates that only the president is allowed to issue legislation in the absence of a parliament.

But, the same law was deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC) on March 1, which led to postponing the election process altogether, scheduled to take place at the end of the month.

The Administrative Court ruled in another verdict on Monday that all candidates who underwent medical examinations in March before the elections were postponed should take them again.

Monday’s court ruling left observers undecided as whether it would further postpone the elections. But today’s SEC decision combined both Qeft and Qous constituencies together with Qena city as an independent constituency. The decision also changed the naming of the districts in New Cairo constituency to match the original distribution amended in the July 9 version of the constituency division law.

Concerning candidacy

The Salafi Nour Party presented two more party lists for the elections on Wednesday, in Cairo and the West Delta, according to the privately owned Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper. Earlier this week, the party presented two others lists in Upper Egypt and the East Delta.

These efforts come amid a sustained campaign against the party’s activities, as various groups have demanded the banning of religious parties from the elections. The group “No to Religious Parties” filed a complaint with the prosecutor general’s office, demanding the dissolution of the Nour Party.

In earlier remarks to Mada Masr, Nour Party leader Shaaban Abdel Aleem said this campaign is illegal, arguing that the law stipulates that parties can only be dissolved based on court rulings, not petitions or campaigns.

The privately owned Youm 7 newspaper also reported that 147 candidates applied for candidacy on Wednesday, with 4532 candidates applying since applications opened.