[JURIST] Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court [official website] on Sunday ruled part of an election law unconstitutional, possibly delaying [AP report] the upcoming parliamentary elections. The law was enacted [BBC report] by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi [BBC profile] to set up voting districts, creating 567 new seats in parliament, of which 420 could go to individual candidates, 120 would be handed down according to party lists, and 27 would be appointed by the president. Voting was scheduled to begin March 21 through April. After the ruling, el-Sissi immediately asked for the law to be amended within a month to prevent delays to the election. However, Egypt’s Supreme Election Committee is reportedly implementing [Reuters report] a new schedule for the election.

The upcoming elections would mark the first time the country has an acting legislature since the court dissolved [JURIST report] the parliament in June 2012, after finding that one-third of its members were elected illegally. Then-president Mohammed Morsi attempted [JURIST report] to reconvene the parliament, but the court suspended the decree. In 2013 the Supreme Administrative Court delayed [JURIST report] parliamentary elections by referring the elections to the higher court to be reviewed on technical grounds. The court later found [JURIST report] provisions of the nation’s revised parliament and election law invalid under the Egyptian constitution. The latest election laws were enacted last December.