The electoral battle in the Egyptian parliament was held back once again—this time stalled by a March 4 Supreme Court ruling, which struck down the 15-year ban on dual citizenship Egyptians running in parliamentary elections.

The electoral battle in the Egyptian parliament was held back once again—this time stalled by a March 4 Supreme Court ruling, which struck down the 15-year ban on dual citizenship Egyptians running in parliamentary elections.

According to the recent ruling: “Loyalty is a feeling and it lies in the heart. A true Egyptian is a citizen who is loyal to his country. Disloyalty or a ‘split’ must not be based on assumptions devoid of any evidence which, when available, dissolves such assumptions and turns the matter into an issue concerned with membership duties. Violation of these duties shall be monitored by the parliament itself.”

The ruling provides that the 2014 Constitution recognized many rights that allow Egyptians to hold other citizenship. Among these rights is that nationality is a right for those who are born to an Egyptian father or an Egyptian mother, which may allow the children of Egyptian mothers to have dual citizenship. These children must not be stigmatized as having multiple loyalties or be deprived of the right to run for parliamentary elections despite their eligibility to elect parliament members, according to the ruling.

A French Egyptian

Former MP and Egyptian businessman Rami Lakah, held French citizenship, which prompted his opponent in the 2000 elections, the late Abdul Ahad Gamal Eddin who presided over the majority of the ruling National Democratic Party in the parliament for many years, to engage in legal battles against Lakah. The legal strife culminated in the ruling published in August 2001, which considered Lakah’s win to be invalid due to his dual citizenship. Prior to this incident, an administrative ruling was issued in November 2000 accusing him of having multiple loyalties and a ‘split’ loyalty between his Egyptian and French nationalities.

By the time Lakah left the parliament, any potential candidate had to give up his or her second nationality. At that time, Lakah himself decided to run for the November 2010 elections. He again fought out the legal loyalty battle when he presented his nomination for the same constituency after the Egyptian revolution. In December 2011, the Court of Administrative Justice ruled that he was eligible to run for parliament, but only because he abdicated his French citizenship.

Opponents of the new ruling

There are, however, those who would rather go back in time and keep dual citizen Egyptians out of the parliament. Ahmad Fadali, founder of the Independence Movement, launched a campaign in favor of ‘banning dual nationality candidates being able to run for parliament’.  At the same time, lawyer Amr Kamal Mahmoud raised a legal case before the administrative court to require potential candidates for the next session to present a certificate issued by the Minister of Interior, that allowing their dual nationality.

Yet Hani Daniel, a researcher at the Arab Center for Research, believes that the arguments presented by opponents are weak. “Who could determine an MP’s loyalty or their alleged loyal multiplicity?” he wondered.

Lack of clarity

Daniel also believes that there is a state of great confusion about laws regulating parliament candidacy which, he said, negatively affects Egypt’s political life. “Article 244 of the Egyptian Constitution provides that Egyptians living abroad shall be appropriately represented in the first parliament in the next parliamentary session. It is, therefore, natural that a likely candidate holds the nationality of another country,” he said.

Daniel explained that an Egyptian residing abroad must be a dual nationality holder especially if living abroad legally for reasons unrelated to study, secondment or loan. The law in that case requires his presence for at least ten years. “How can he reside abroad without holding another nationality?” he wondered and added, “Lawmakers in this case seems to intend to have representatives from the Arab Gulf region since they are the only Egyptians living abroad without holding another nationality as they reside in the Gulf based on the sponsorship system.”

Daniel also believes that the law, which is currently being amended, should reflect the government’s seriousness about the presence of parliamentary representation for Egyptians abroad. “As long as the Constitution has recognized that right, the Egyptian government should consider other nations’ experiences in this respect,” he said and explained that expressing the demands of Egyptians abroad should entail the presence of other experiences besides their representation in the next parliament. The researcher raised the possibility of establishing a supreme council to represent them.