Egypt’s elections authority annuls results in 19 constituencies over 'defects'

Decision follows President El Sisi’s call for investigation into alleged irregularities

Voters queue at a polling station in Gaza during the first round of parliamentary elections. AP

Egypt’s National Elections Authority on Tuesday annulled the results in 19 constituencies across seven governorates over irregularities in the first phase of parliamentary elections.

Judge Hazem Badawi, the chairman of the authority, announced the decision one day after President Abdel Fattah El Sisi publicly called for an investigation into claims of vote-buying, ballot tampering and other violations.

The authority had found “substantial defects” that undermined the integrity of both the balloting and the vote count in the 19 districts where the results were annulled, Mr Badawi said at a press conference to announce the results of the first phase.

He cited failures such as candidates not receiving copies of official vote tallies, as required by law, and inconsistencies between tallies recorded at sub-committees and those compiled by general committees supervising the vote.

Voters queue outside a polling station in Giza during the first round of Egypt's parliamentary election. EPA

The first phase of voting, covering 14 governorates, was held on November 7 and 8 for Egyptians living abroad and on November 10 and 11 for voters in the country. Overseas voting for the remaining 13 governorates will be held on November 21 and 22, and on November 24 and 25 for voters in the country.

Mr Badawi said the electoral authority would hold fresh elections for the 19 constituencies where the results were annulled, with overseas voting on December 1 and 2, and on the following two days for voters in the country.

The decision to annul some results capped 24 hours of rapid developments following the President’s intervention on Monday, and came amid mounting public scrutiny of the two-stage election to select legislators for the 2025–2030 term.

Criticism had intensified after reports circulated online of possible vote-buying and mishandling of ballot boxes. Those complaints were echoed, albeit cautiously, by the Arab Organisation for Human Rights, a Cairo‑based observer group accredited by the state to monitor polling.

Its report on the first round of voting described inconsistencies in turnout figures, delays in opening some polling stations, and campaign activity inside restricted perimeters. Election officials promised late on Monday night to pursue full transparency in handling complaints.

In a press briefing hours after Mr El Sisi’s directive, Mr Badawi said the electoral authority “does not conceal any violations” and that its board, which is composed entirely of judges, was examining the complaints filed by candidates, monitors and members of the public.

He said the authority would take all necessary legal measures “even if that requires cancelling the elections entirely or partially in some districts”. He declared that “no member of parliament will be elected except by the will of the voters”.

The authority had so far received 88 formal appeals concerning alleged irregularities in specific districts, he said, and the results of its investigations would be made public.

A voter prepares to cast her ballot at a polling station in Giza during the first phase of Egypt's parliamentary election on November 10. AFP

While tampering is often reported in Egyptian elections, the scale reached new heights this year, necessitating intervention from Mr El Sisi, Abdalla Nasef, a Washington political analyst, told The National. “The President’s message is positive in one narrow sense: it acknowledges what Egyptians have seen election after election – that bribery and vote‑buying were rampant,” Mr Nasef said.

“But this time the problem wasn’t just corruption; it was the scale of rigging and meddling. In many races, candidates and their campaigners were not even allowed to oversee the vote counting, and some were even arrested and prevented from campaigning.”

He added that the President’s acknowledgement, while unusual and striking, “doesn’t get to the core issue, which is representation”. He explained that since a substantial share of parliament's seats are filled through closed electoral lists whose outcomes are largely pre-determined, voters have limited real choice in any case.

Without reforming the system to allow more open and competitive races, he said, official pledges to combat electoral misconduct are unlikely to yield meaningful results. The election is widely expected to return a pro‑government majority to the legislature.