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Ballot counting - Mohamed Abdel Ghani?REUTERS
CAIRO, Dec. 19 (Aswat Masriya) - Egypt's Supreme Electoral Commission (SEC) announced on Friday the completion of the parliamentary elections, after all seats in the House of Representatives were filled up.
The elections were conducted over the course of two months, kicking off on Oct. 17 and ending last Wednesday after the voting in the last four constituencies was completed.
The voting was repeated in four constituencies located in Beheira, Alexandria and Beni Suef provinces and had been postponed as per a court ruling which deemed the results in those constituencies invalid.
Head of SEC Ayman Abbas said that a total of 13 candidates including 9 independents and 4 party members won in the four constituencies bringing the total number of independent candidates in the upcoming parliament to 325, making up 52.2 percent of the House. Party members add up to 243 candidates, which is equivalent to 42.8 percent, he added.
The total number of voters who cast their ballots in the four constituencies amounted to 292,529 voters, at a turnout rate of 16.7 percent, Abbas said. SEC announced earlier in December that the average turnout rate of voters in first and second phase of elections was approximately 28.3 percent.
The House is comprised of 596 members, 448 are individual candidates, 120 elected through lists and 28 appointed by the president. The "For the Love of Egypt" coalition swept all 120 seats allocated to the lists system in the legislature. The coalition is the brainchild of former military intelligence general Sameh Seif Elyazal, who openly seeks to limit the powers of parliament.
The House is the first legislature elected since 2012, when a top Egypt court dissolved the People's Assembly, the lower house of parliament. At the time, Egypt had a bicameral legislature.
During the absence of a parliament, the president had the legislative power, on condition that upon the election of a new parliament all the legislations passed by the president should be discussed and approved by the House within 15 days of its commencement, according to article 156 of the Egyptian constitution.