The Mostaqbal Watan party (Future of the Nation, which supports President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi) won a majority, taking 317 seats in the 596-member House of Representatives (see note). Most of the remaining seats were taken by its partners in the National Unified List. They included the Republican People’s Party, which finished second with 49 seats. The number of women increased from 89 in 2015 to 162 in 2020, including 14 presidential appointees. On 12 January, the newly elected House of Representatives elected former Supreme Constitutional Court judge Hanafy Ali el Gibaly (Mostaqbal Watan) as its new Speaker.




The 2020 elections to the House of Representatives followed contests for the Senate (a newly created upper chamber) in which Mostaqbal Watan won a majority. Both elections were held amid the COVID-19 pandemic. By October, the virus had infected more than 105,000 people and killed nearly 6,200 in the country. Turnout was low: about 29 per cent of 63 million eligible voters turned out at the polls.





Note:


The House of Representatives comprises 568 directly elected members and 28 members appointed by the President. In all, 284 of the 568 members are elected under a majority system in two rounds from 142 constituencies, while 284 other members are elected under a proportional representation system from four constituencies.