New Egyptian Constitution Scraps Parliamentary Quota For Workers And Farmers

The fifty-member committee responsible for amending Egypt’s constitution has removed an article mandating that 50 percent of members of parliament should be either workers or farmers.

Ahmed Eid, a member of the drafting committee, told reporters on Monday that the committee voted to cancel the article, although some had argued for keeping it.

The quota has been in place since the 1960s, but became controversial in recent years, with some arguing that the loose definition of what it means to be a worker or a farmer meant that it could be exploited by those in power.

Some labour and farmers’ unions supported the quota, arguing that it was important for the proper representation of Egyptian society.

The drafting committee discussed various articles related to the electoral system on Monday.

According to committee member Gaber Nassar, the committee will choose between three voting systems: the individual candidate voting system, the list voting system, and the mixed voting system. According to Nassar, the committee favours the individual system.

Source : Ahram