President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi said on Monday that the long-awaited parliamentary elections will take place before the end of March 2015.
Sisi’s announcement came during a meeting at the presidential palace with officials from the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt, the US-Egypt Business Council and a delegation of US businessmen.
According to the political roadmap declared after former president Mohamed Morsy's ouster in July 2013, parliamentary elections were scheduled to be held before the end of 2014. The presidency had reiterated its commitment to that procedure.
But the delay in declaring the timetable for elections raised the ire of democracy activists and some politicians who decried it as a violation of the roadmap.
Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb had recently promised to finish a draft law demarcating constituencies, the delay of which is believed to be a factor behind failure to set a timetable for the polls.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
