At stake in this election:

• 508 seats in the People's Assembly (Majlis Al-Sha'b)

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President Mohamed Hosni MUBARAK
• Head of Government: Prime Minister Ahmed NAZIF
• Assembly: Egypt has a bicameral Parliament consisting of the Advisory Council (Majilis Al-Shura) with 264 seats and the People's Assembly (Majlis Al-Sha'b) with 518 seats.

Description of electoral system:

• The President is elected by absolute majority vote through a two-round system to serve a 6-year term.*
• The Prime Minister is appointed by the president with the approval of the parliament.
• In the Advisory Council (Majilis Al-Shura), 176 members are elected by absolute majority vote through a two-round system to serve 6-year terms and 88 members are appointed by the president to serve 6-year terms. In the People's Assembly (Majlis Al-Sha'b), 444 members are elected by absolute majority vote through a two-round system to serve 5-year terms, 10 members are appointed by the president to serve 5-year terms and 64 members are reserved for women to serve 5-year terms.**

* A national referendum in May 2005 approved a constitutional amendment that changed the presidential election to a multicandidate popular vote. Previously, the president was nominated by the People's Assembly and the nomination was validated by a national, popular referendum. Candidates may run with a party or as independents. Each registered political party is allowed to field a candidate if they have been licensed for at least five years and hold at least five percent of the seats in the lower and upper houses of parliament. In order to qualify as an independent, potential candidates must collect 250 signatures from elected officials. These officials can be from both the national and municipal level.

** Every district contains two seats and electors are given two votes. At least one seat in each district is reserved for a worker or farmer. If no candidate receives an absolute majority in the first round, a second round is held one week later. This round will contain the top 4 vote-getters, provided 2 are workers and/or farmers. If the two top candidates in the first round are not workers or farmers, the top candidate is elected, while a new simple majority poll is held a week later among the top workers and farmers. In the women's tier, every governorate is one electoral district and elects two women, at least half of whom must be workers or farmers, except for the governorates of Cairo, El‐Daqahilia, and Sohag which are divided into two electoral districts, each of which elects to women members

Main parties in the electoral race:

• Party: National Democratic Party (NDP)
  • Leader: Mohammed Hosni MUBARAK
  • Seats won in last People's Assembly election: 311
• Party: New Delegation Party / Hizb al-wafd al-jadida حزب الوفد الجديد
  • Leader: Sayyid AL-BADAWI
  • Seats won in last People's Assembly election: 6
• Party: Tomorrow Party / Hizb al-Ghad حزب الغد
  • Leader: Ayman NOUR
  • Seats won in last People's Assembly election: 1
• Party: The Socialist Liberal Party / Hizb al-Ahrar
  • Leader: Helmi Ahmed SALEM
  • Seats won in last People's Assembly election: 0
• Party: Social Constitutional Party
  • Leader: Mahmoud QENAWY
  • Seats won in last People's Assembly election: 0
• Party: National Progressive Unionist Party / Hizb al Tagammu' al Watani al Taqadomi al Wahdawi حزب التجمع الوطني التقدمي الوحدوي (Tagammu)
  • Leader: Mohammed Rifat Al-SAEED
  • Seats won in last People's Assembly election: 2
• Independent(s): The Muslim Brotherhood (MB) / al-Ikhwān al-Muslemeen*******
  • Leader: Mohammed BADIE
  • Seats won in last People's Assembly election: 88
• Independent(s): Independents not associated with the Muslim Brotherhood
  • Leader: N/A
  • Seats won in last People's Assembly election: 24

******* The Political Parties Law of 1977 (Law 40/1977) prohibits political parties based on religious identity, however, Brotherhood members often run as independents.

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 80,471,869 (July 2010 est.)
• Registered Voters: 31,890,106 (November 2005 )

Gender Data:

·         Female Population: 40,635,503 (2010)

·         Is Egypt a signatory to CEDAW: Yes (16 July 1980)

·         Has Egypt ratified CEDAW: Yes (18 September 1981)

·         Gender Quota: Yes

·         Female candidates in this election: Yes

·         Number of Female Parliamentarians: 65 (following the 2010 elections)

·         Human Development Index Position: 108

·         Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: Very High

Disability Data:

·         Is Egypt a signatory to CRPD: Yes (4 April 2007)

·         Has Egypt ratified CRPD: Yes (14 April 2008)

·         Population with a disability: 12,070,780 (est.)