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The first phase of Egypt’s parliamentary elections will start on 17-18 October for Egyptians abroad and 18-19 October for voters inside Egypt, the Higher Electoral Commission (HEC) announced in a press conference late Sunday.   

Judge Ayman Abbas, head of HEC, added that the second phase of the elections would start on 21-22 November for Egyptians abroad and 22-23 November for Egyptians in Egypt.

A law requiring Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC) to rule on the constitutionality of parliamentary election laws within a maximum of five days after hearing a case was overturned by president Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi on Tuesday. 

This repeal means that no deadline is presently enforced.

El-Sisi has held legislative powers sine his election in 2014 due to absence of parliament.

No cases regarding election laws are currently awaiting an SCC decision.

A nine-member judicial body in charge of ‎supervising Egypt's upcoming parliamentary elections ‎held a meeting Monday to begin preparing for potential ‎polls.

Ayman Abbas, chairman of Cairo's Appeals ‎Court and head of the Higher Election Committee ‎‎(HEC), said the committee will remainin session ‎over the next few days until a timeline for elections is ‎announced.‎

According to HEC's spokesman, Omar Marwan, ‎the meetings come after the electoral ‎constituencies law, necessary for paving the way for ‎the elections, was ratified by president Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi.

The Egyptian government has acknowledged that it was a mistake to publish a draft law that limits how journalists report terrorist incidents without first consulting the press syndicate, a syndicate official said Thursday.

The draft anti-terrorism legislation contains a controversial article which states that anyone who intentionally publishes information on a terrorist operation other than that which is cited in government statements can be sentenced to at least two years in prison.

The journalists syndicate has called for changes to a draft anti-terrorism law which imposes two-year jail sentences on journalists who "report false information on terrorist attacks which contradict official statements."

Journalist Khaled El-Balshy told Al-Ahram Arabic news website that the syndicate had called for the cancellation of Article 33 of the draft law during a meeting on Wednesday with Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab. 

The syndicate also called for amendments to four other articles of the law, El-Balshy added.

A number of Egypt's political forces have declared their support for the journalist syndicate in rejecting a new counter-terrorism draft law soon set to be passed in the country.

The press syndicate has said that the new law, if passed, will trample on press freedoms and enable the authorities to censor the media.

Amid a recent upswing of violence in Egypt, the Egyptian government is attempting to once again pass a legislation aiming at curbing a longstanding militancy, only to instigate a wave of criticism.

The press syndicate has said a new anti-terror law Egypt is set to pass will trample on press freedoms and enable authorities to censor media.

The draft anti-terrorism legislation imposes a minimum two-year sentence as punishment for "reporting false information on terrorist attacks which contradict official statements.”

The law was approved by the cabinet last week after President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi pledged tougher legal measures to combat terrorism after the assassination of the country's top public prosecutor in a Cairo car-bomb attack.

The Egyptian cabinet has approved on Wednesday two new legislations, a law to counter-terrorism and another law to regulate parliamentary elections. 

Minister of transitional justice Ibrahim El-Heneidy added that the cabinet implemented a request by the Supreme Constitutional Court to give its judges a longer period to rule on appeals against elections results.

These new laws would go into effect once signed by the president as per Egyptian law.