Egypt's election delay leaves foreign investors uncertain
Economists say that the delayed Egyptian parliamentary elections might discourage foreign investors, whose first consideration is stability in Egypt.
After a delay of over a year, the Egypt Economic Development Conference kicked off on March 13 in Sharm el-Sheikh with the participation of 90 countries. This would be Egypt’s opportunity to rebuild its economy by attracting international institutions and countries to invest in Egypt, helping a cash-strapped economy by raising Egypt's annual economic growth to 3.8%.
The conference, which Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi described on his official Twitter account March 10 as the key to the future and the beginning of development in the country, is being held in the absence of a parliament.
The establishment of a new parliament was to be the third phase after the constitutional amendment and the presidential elections — three steps that Sisi pledged to undertake to rebuild the state institutions on July 3, 2013, when he was the defense minister following the isolation of former President Mohammed Morsi.
On March 1, a ruling by Egypt’s highest judicial authority, the Supreme Constitutional Court, ruled that Article 3 of Law 202 for 2014 on dividing constituencies in the parliamentary elections was unconstitutional. The parliamentary elections scheduled to take place on March 22 have been delayed accordingly.
