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Electoral law for Egypt's upper house deemed unconstitutional

CAIRO, June 2 (UPI) -- Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court ruled Sunday the law under which the Shura Council, or upper house, was elected, is unconstitutional.

The Shura Council is currently Egypt's only legislative body after the People's Assembly, or lower house, was dissolved when the SCC ruled its electoral law was unconstitutional, the Egypt Independent said.

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The new constitution, approved in December, said the first legislative elections after the adoption of the constitution would require two-thirds of the seats to be won by a list-based electoral system and one-third by individual candidacy. Partisans and independent candidates would be allowed to run in each.

The SCC ruled this language to be unconstitutional in the electoral law for the People's Assembly, though the reason why was not reported. The same law governs the Shura Council.

The implications of the ruling for the upper house was not reported.

The SCC has also ruled unconstitutional a law allowing for the formation of the Constituent Assembly, which drafted the constitution, the newspaper said.

The assembly was dissolved in April 2012 when it was first deemed unconstitutional, then was re-established two months later. President Mohamed Morsi deemed the Constituent Assembly immune from dissolution in November.

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