Egypt’s military council yesterday eased long-held restrictions on the creation of new political parties, but kept in place a ban on religious parties.
“Instead of having at least 10,000 members, any new party will be legalised with just 5,000 members,” General Mamdouh Shahin, a member of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, said.
He added that political parties would be created by notifying a judicial committee, which would have to make its decision within 30 days. “If the committee does not object within this time-frame, the party will be legal,” he added.
Under the amendments introduced to the Political Parties Law, the state will stop financing political parties — a tradition activists say has weakened opposition parties.
Shahin said parliamentary elections will be held in September and that the emergency law will be scrapped before the polls. No date has been set for the presidential elections.