Egypt readies for parliamentary poll as final stage of 'roadmap'

Egypt’s outgoing Interim President Adly Mansour passed a law for parliamentary elections on Thursday guaranteeing a minimum 12 percent of seats to women and four percent to Egypt's minority Christians.

The legislative polls will be the final stage of a "roadmap" to democracy announced by former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who himself was elected president last week.

The approval of the new law comes only hours before Mansour, who was installed by the army following Morsi's ouster last July, hands over the reins to president-elect Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, who is due to be sworn in on Sunday.

In a statement, the presidency said that under the law passed by Mansour, who has the power to legislate in the absence of parliament which has been dissolved, the house will be made up of 567 members, of whom 540 will be elected and the rest named by the president.

Twenty-four seats will be reserved for Coptic Christians and 70 for women, in keeping with Egypt's constitution, the president's office said.

It said the law would allow the electoral commission to set a date for legislative elections, but the date for the parliamentary elections has yet to be decided. Some observers expect the elections to be held before the end of this year.

Egypt imposes new penalties for sexual harassment 

Egypt approved new punishments Thursday for sexual harassment, amid rising pressure on authorities to fight the rampant phenomenon.

Until now, Egypt has not had a law defining sexual harassment, despite more than 99 percent of women being subjected to some form of abuse, a 2013 study by the United Nations said.

But outgoing interim president Mansour approved a range of amendments that would punish offences against women.

These would include jail terms, fines, or both.

Any sexual or pornographic suggestions or hints through words, signs or acts are now punishable by imprisonment for at least six months.

Such acts could also carry fines of between 3,000 Egyptian pounds (about $419/307 euro) and 5,000 pounds.

If sexual harassment is "committed with the aim of obtaining sexual advantages from the victim," offenders can be jailed for at least one year and fined 10,000-20,000 pounds.

Imprisonment from two to five years and fine of 20,000-50,000 pounds would apply if offenders use professional, family or academic power or circumstantial pressures on the victim.

An activist brushed off the penalties:

They "are of no value" because they give the judge the right to choose between a fine or jail, said Fathi Farid, a founder of the "I Saw Harassment" campaign that documents sexual harassment of women.

He also said they were "not enough for cases involving sexual assaults by mobs."

Since the 2011 uprising that ousted president Hosni Mubarak, Egypt has witnessed a jump in sexual assault, with women even attacked by mobs of young men in the middle of demonstrations.

In March, a sexual harassment case at a leading university sparked outrage after the dean suggested it was sparked by what the woman was wearing.