[This is a roundup of news articles and other materials circulating on Egypt and reflects a wide variety of opinions. It does not reflect the views of the Egypt Page Editors or of Jadaliyya. You may send your own recommendations for inclusion in each week`s roundup to egypt@jadaliyya.com by Sunday night of every week.]
Elections
For the Love of Egypt: High profile, low on politics in parliament race
For the Love of Egypt is contesting all of the 120 seats available to blocs, using four lists.
Egypt`s Wafd Party invokes past glories in parliamentary bid
The Wafd Party is competing for 264 independent seats in the upcoming parliamentary elections, fifty percent of the independent seats. It also has eight members on the "For the Love of Egypt" electoral list.
Egyptian Social Democratic Party to compete for individual seats only
Nearly seventy candidates are representing the Egyptian Social Democratic Party in the competitions for the individual seats across the country.
Popular Socialist Alliance Party figure tells Egyptians: Vote to fight terrorism
The Socialist Popular Alliance Party will not compete for the party list seats. In addition to the six SPAP candidates competing for individual seats, five other party members are running for the individual seats as independents.
Where are the Islamists in Egypt`s upcoming parliamentary elections?
Islamist parties will be largely absent on the polling cards in Egypt’s upcoming elections, with the Muslim Brotherhood, the country`s largest Islamist group, outlawed and in disarray, and other Islamists boycotting. But the Salafist Al-Nour Party and some individual Islamist candidates could recapture some parliamentary influence.
Egyptian media figures, familiar politicians fight over two seats in `celebrity constituency`
Labeled the “celebrities constituency”, there are currently thirty-four candidates competing over two individual seats in the House of Representatives.
More than 185,000 members of Armed Forces to participate in securing elections
The general command of the armed forces announced on Thursday.
Seven electoral lists run in first stage of Egypt`s parliamentary elections: HEC
There are four lists contesting 15 seats in the West Delta, which are the Salafist Nour Party, Fi Hob Misr list (for the Love of Egypt), Forsan Misr (The Knights of Egypt) and the combined electoral list of the Egyptian Front and the Independence Current. There are another three lists contesting 45 seats in north, middle and Upper Egypt: Nadaa Misr (the Call of Egypt), Al Sahwa Al Watnya (the Natinal awake) and Fi Hob Misr.
Egypt cabinet orders half-day off Monday for state employees on second voting day
Egypt`s cabinet gave state employees a half-day off on Monday, the second day of voting in the first stage of the country`s parliamentary elections.
Ahram Online presents: The Idiot`s Guide to Egypt`s parliamentary elections 2015
Ahram Online provides an overview of Egypt`s first parliamentary elections since the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.
Independent candidates steal the show in Alexandria`s parliamentary vote
In the absence of party politics, citizens look for a candidate who will “act on his promises.”
Top media execs accused of campaigning in their own news outlets
Some parliamentary candidates are in the hot seat for allegedly abusing their positions as owners of media platforms to promote their electoral campaigns.
Boycott drive proposes martyrs, prisoners as parliamentary candidates
Some young activists are calling on Egyptians to boycott the parliamentary elections in honor of the martyrs of the revolution and imprisoned political dissidents.
Sisi urges Egyptians to head to polls amid fears of low turnout on first day of expat vote
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi delivered a televised address on Saturday to all citizens, both at home and overseas, urging them to vote amid fears of a low turnout in Egypt`s parliamentary elections.
Egypt`s last Islamists standing offer `polite` opposition
Nour party`s cautious approach to politics speaks volumes about the precarious state of Islamists, the backbone of opposition to Egyptian autocrats for decades.
Egypt’s election likely to produce powerless legislature
With almost no effective opposition expected to run or make a mark, critics and analysts say the legislature will be little more than a rubber stamp.
Sisi to tighten grip on Egypt despite new parliament
With most of his opponents in jail and Western powers firmly behind him, Sisi is consolidating his hold on power more than a year into his first term and two years after he toppled Egypt`s first freely-elected president following mass protests.
Egypt tycoon`s party eyes economy with election bid
With Sisi in full control of the country`s politics, experts say, economic policy is likely to be the only arena in which the new lawmakers will be able to play.
Social Democratic Party chairman denies internal elections were rigged
Al-Masry Al-Youm interviews Mohamed Abul Ghar, chairman of the Social Democratic Party.
US group scales back plan to monitor Egypt election
Democracy International said on Friday it would monitor Egypt`s parliamentary elections but has scaled back its plans after having trouble getting visas for all its staff.
Three bombs defused on first day of elections
Three bombs were defused in two Egyptian provinces on Sunday, as voters move to cast their ballots on the first day of the House of Representatives` elections.
Election turnout 1.1 percent as of Sunday afternoon
The first stage of parliamentary elections witnessed a low turnout on Sunday with a turnout of no more than 1.19 percent reported and 16,957 votes cast, according to a press statement from High Elections Committee Spokesperson Marwan Omar.
Turnout low in Egypt`s long-awaited parliamentary election
Egyptians turned out in low numbers on Sunday to vote in the first phase of an election hailed by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as a milestone on the road to democracy.
Political Rights
Egyptian TV host presents video game clip as Russian anti-ISIS operation
Controversial Egyptian TV host Ahmed Moussa presented a video clip from a popular video game on his daily show as a genuine Russian operation against ISIS in Syria, causing a wave of online ridicule.
Egyptian court overturns five death sentences in Kerdasa police killings
Egypt’s Court of Cassation overturned the convictions of five men who were sentenced to death for storming a police station and killing eleven policemen in the town of Kerdasa in 2013.
Those convicted of illicit gains encouraged to utilize Egypt`s reconciliation amendments
The amendments allow reconciliation between the defendant and the state after illegally gained money is returned.
Egyptian Christian TV channel director briefly detained, equipment confiscated
Egyptian censorship authorities detained on Saturday the director of the Christian TV channel SAT-7 and confiscated studio equipment, on charges of operating without a license, the channel said on Monday.
Egyptian prosecution to investigate TV host over porn discussion
Egypt`s prosecutor ordered Tuesday the investigation of TV host and actress Entsar after complaints were submitted accusing her of lewdness, debauchery, and blasphemy in the way she discussed porn on her show, which aired on Al-Qahira Wa El-Nas channel.
No forced disappearance cases in Egypt: Interior Ministry
Assistant to the interior minister at the human rights sector Salah Fouad said that no forced disappearance cases have been recorded in Egypt, state news agency reported.
Rights campaign lambasts Interior Ministry for denying forced disappearances
The Freedom for the Brave campaign railed against the Interior Ministry’s recent denial of forced disappearances in a statement the group released on Thursday.
Business tycoon Sawiris accuses Nader Bakkar and his Nour Party of defaming him
The founder of the liberal Free Egyptians Party (FEP), business tycoon Naguib Sawiris, lodged a complaint with the prosecution on Sunday accusing the Nour Party and its spokesman Nader Bakkar of defaming him after the latter described him as “failure" and "corrupt”.
Court orders release of Gamal and Alaa Mubarak
The Cairo Criminal Court ordered the release of Gamal and Alaa Mubarak in what has become known as the “Mubarak Mansions” case.
Court annuls six death sentences in Kerdasa case, orders retrial
An appeals court on Monday annulled the death sentences handed to six defendants for the alleged killing of fourteen people in Giza in August 2013, and ordered a retrial.
Police forcefully disperse Endowments workers` protest outside Abdeen Palace
Police forcefully dispersed a sit-in by over 1,200 workers from the Ministry of Religious Endowments in the early hours of Monday morning outside Abdeen Presidential Palace.
Report: 215 cases of forced disappearances in August, September
There have been 215 cases of forced disappearances across Egypt in August and September, according to a report issued by a campaign working to combat the phenomenon.
Zawahiri acquitted, ten other Islamists sentenced to death
The Cairo Criminal Court acquitted Egyptia Islamic Jihad leader Mohamed al-Zawahiri in what is known as the “Zawahiri cell” case on Thursday.
Rasha Azab, Khaled al-Balshy released pending investigations
Prosecution has released prominent activist Rasha Azab and Journalists Syndicate board member Khaled al-Balshy on Tuesday pending further investigations, after accusing them of calling for unlicensed protests and assaulting security forces, among other charges, in relation to a protest in 2014.
Protests escalated in last three months: report
Protests in Egypt have escalated in the past three months, according to a report issued Saturday by the Arab Foundation for Civil Society and Human Rights Support.
Dispute inside NCHR over Sinai dispatched mission
The National Council for Human Rights is currently in the midst of an internal dispute after the council`s office complained of a mission dispatched to Sinai without coordination with the council`s Sinai office.
Whereabouts of Al-Masry Al-Youm IT assistant still unknown following arrest
Fathy Gad was arrested from his home at dawn when eight security officers seized his laptop and took him to an unknown destination.
Economy
Thirty-five percent of preparatory stage students in Egypt are illiterate: Millennium Goals report
Nearly thirty-five percent of preparatory stage students in Egypt do not know how to read or write, the UNDP Millennium Development Goals (MDG) progress report revealed.
Egypt`s foreign debt jumps in 2014/15, reaching Gulf War levels
Egypt’s foreign debt reached 48.062 billion USD at the end of the 2014/15 Fiscal Year, exceeding the nation`s debt levels in the early 1990s.
Egypt to import fifty-five cargoes of natural gas
Egypt began importing natural gas in April, when a floating import terminal went online in the Red Sea port of Ain Sokhna.
Sisi sets two-year deadline for phase one of new capital
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has set a two-year deadline for the completion of the first phase of an ambitious plan to build a new administrative capital.
Central Bank allows pound to devalue
This is the third time the CBE has allowed the pound to weaken this year.
Egypt to receive three billion USD loan from World Bank, says finance minister
Egypt will receive a three billion USD loan from the World Bank in installments over the next three years to support the state`s budget, Finance Minister Hany Dimian said on the sidelines of an economic conference.
Trade unions warn against backtracking on annual bonus
Several trade unions and labor leaders are warning about increased discontent among public sector employees after the Finance Ministry decided not to disburse an annual ten percent bonus previously decreed by the Presidency.
Govt can no longer afford pensions, insurance: solidarity minister
The government can no longer afford the size of pensions and insurance, said Solidarity Minister Ghada Wali at the Akhbar Al-Youm economic conference.
Sisi walks fine line between Egypt`s tycoons and generals
As Egyptians begin voting on Sunday in parliamentary elections meant to help bring prosperity, this reluctance illustrates the strained relations between Sisi and the top businessmen who so strongly supported his rise to power.
Textile workers press government to maintain annual bonus
The General Syndicate for Spinning and Weaving held an emergency meeting on Saturday to discuss the government’s decision to withhold an annual ten percent bonus disbursed to public sector employees since the 1980s.
Foreign Policy
Egypt`s Shokry, Putin envoy agree on `activating political solution in Syria`
Foreign Minister Sameh Shokry and Mikhail Bogdanov, the special representative of the Russian President Vladimir Putin for the Middle East and Africa discussed the importance of solving the Syrian issue from its roots by "activating the political solution" as stipulated in the Geneva II Conference, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
BDS Egypt calls for protest stand in Cairo to support Palestinian `intifada`
The pro-Palestine movement established its Egyptian branch in April 2015.
Protest in Cairo decries `Arab silence` towards Israeli atrocities
Tens of protesters gathered at downtown Cairo`s Syndicate of Journalists on Saturday to demonstrate against what they perceive as an "Arab governments` silence" towards Israeli atrocities against Palestinians.
Egypt wins seat on UN Security Council
The United Nations General Assembly almost unanimously voted for Egypt as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council (UNSC) on Thursday.