Electoral law amended in Egypt following protests

Egypt's military chief of staff Sami Enan Egypt's military rulers agreed on Saturday to amend a controversial electoral law following threats of a poll boycott by dozens of political parties and a rally in Cairo's Tahrir Square for reforms. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which took power when president Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February, agreed to amend the new law to allow political parties to field candidates in the one-third of seats that had previously been reserved for independent candidates, the official MENA agency reported.
The military rulers also agreed to lift the emergency law during elections and halt military trials for civilians, and consider banning senior members of the dissolved former ruling party of Hosni Mubarak from running for public posts, Al Arabiya correspondent reported from Cairo.
The decision came after a meeting between military chief of staff Sami Enan and members of the Democratic Coalition, which groups dozens of political groups, including the powerful Muslim Brotherhood and the liberal Wafd party.
Those at the meeting -- and dozens more groups -- had objected to Article 5, which stipulates that two-thirds of seats would be on a party list system and the rest for independents.
On Thursday they threatened a vote boycott unless the controversial article was cancelled, throwing into question the credibility of Egypt's first post-Mubarak polls.
SCAF has also agreed to examine activating a law that would ban corrupt politicians from running for office for 10 years, and to look into lifting the emergency law, MENA said.
Under the old system, hundreds of candidates ran as independents if they did not make it onto Mubarak's National Democratic Party lists, only to join the party after winning seats.
Candidates affiliated with the ruling party used patronage or pressure to garner votes.