CAIRO / ISTANBUL

Egypt’s top administrative court has annulled the results of parliamentary elections in 26 electoral districts due to violations, local media reported on Sunday.

The first phase of the parliamentary elections was held on Nov. 10-11 to choose members of the House of Representatives across 14 of Egypt’s 27 governorates.

The state news agency MENA said the decision to cancel the parliamentary vote results by the Higher Administrative Court on Saturday was based on appeals by candidates who ran in the first phase.

The court ruled to “invalidate the electoral process and void the announcement of results in 26 districts across nine governorates,” MENA said, without specifying further details.

There was no immediate comment from the National Election Authority (NEA) on the court ruling.

The verdict came after the electoral authority announced on Nov. 18 that voting would be repeated in 19 districts out of 70, in half of the governorates included in the first phase, after detecting “fundamental breaches.” The rerun is scheduled for December.

The court verdict raises the number of invalidated districts to 45 out of 70 – nearly 64 percent of all districts in the first phase.

This marks the first time since President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi took office in 2014 that the National Election Authority or Higher Administrative Court has decided to order a rerun of vote, according to an Anadolu correspondent.

The second and final phase of the elections was held on Nov. 24–25 in 73 districts across 13 governorates, and its results are expected to be announced on Dec. 2.

Egypt has around 69 million eligible voters out of a population of about 108 million.

The House of Representatives serves for five years as Egypt’s legislative authority and consists of 568 elected members, with five percent directly appointed by the president.