Egypt to Close Senate Candidacy Submissions Thursday

Cairo - 8 July 2025: The National Election Authority (NEA) has announced that the deadline for submitting candidacy applications for the upcoming Senate elections in Egypt will be Thursday at 2:00 PM, marking the end of the official period for receiving nominations. The preliminary list of candidates is scheduled to be released on Friday, July 11, 2025.

Following the closure of the candidacy window, specialized screening committees formed by the NEA will begin reviewing all submitted applications. These committees will verify each candidate’s eligibility based on the official documentation provided, determining the validity of their candidacy and confirming whether individual candidates are party-affiliated or independent. The process also includes reviewing submissions from both main and alternate candidates on party lists.

Once the vetting process concludes, the screening committees will officially compile two separate lists:

One for individual candidates accepted under the individual electoral system, including their electoral symbol, party affiliation (if any), or independent status. Another for candidates running on party lists, detailing each candidate’s role, party affiliation, or independent status, along with the name of the list they belong to.

Both lists will be publicly displayed in a clear and visible manner at the premises of the relevant primary courts starting Friday, July 11.

The National Election Authority confirmed that its central operations room has not recorded any obstacles during the past three days. All submitted documents have been successfully uploaded to the NEA’s digital management system, which was developed to digitize and securely archive all nomination papers.

The NEA also noted that ongoing reviews are being conducted to verify the accuracy of the documents submitted by all candidates.

As of now, 22 primary courts across Egypt continue to receive candidacy applications under the individual system, while 4 designated courts are handling applications submitted under the party-list system, with all applications set to close by the end of the day on Thursday.

President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has officially ratified the recent amendments to the Senate Law and its electoral districting regulations. According to the law, the Senate will consist of 300 members, two-thirds of whom will be elected through direct secret ballot, while the remaining third will be appointed by the President of the Republic. The law also ensures that no less than 10% of all seats are allocated to women.

For electoral purposes, Egypt is divided into 27 districts for individual candidacy elections and 4 districts for party-list elections. Two of the list-based districts will each have 13 seats, while the other two will have 37 seats allocated to each.