Governors are currently considering several alternatives to local councils in the wake of the Supreme Administrative Court's ruling last week to dissolve them, sources in the Ministry of Local Development told Al-Masry Al-Youm.
The sources said that one option is appealing against the ruling, but is unlikely as it would be opposed by the public.
The second scenario is holding elections within 60 days to choose 53,000 members for local councils at all three levels: villages, cities and governorates. This option would be difficult to implement, they said, due to the ongoing security vacuum.
The same sources added that the government might resort to keeping local council members at governorate level only, in addition to forming popular committees and issuing a decree to set municipality policy until elections are held.
Local councils continue to be dominated by members of the former ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), which revolutionary forces hold responsible for corruption and perceive as counter-revolutionary.
There are 4496 village municipalities and 199 town municipalities in Egypt, according to official government statistics. There are more than 1762 local councils, with around 53,000 total seats nationally.
Local councils are responsible for many aspects of local governance, such as sewage, sanitation and roads. In the past, the government used them to organize political support for the ruling regime.
Translated from the Arabic Edition
