Egypt sets date for parliamentary elections, the first since a popular uprising which has toppled the rule of deposed President Hosni Mubarak.

Egypt sets date for parliamentary elections, the first since a popular uprising which has toppled the rule of deposed President Hosni Mubarak.

"The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces has set November 28 as the start of the first stage of the parliamentary election, which will be held over three rounds," MENA reported on Tuesday.

For the lower house (Majlis Al-Shaab or People's Assembly) the second and third stages of elections will take place on December 14 and January 3, while the first session of parliament will be held on March 17.
In the upper house (Shura), elections will start on January 29, the agency quoted a military official as saying, with the first session set for March 24.

The decree also includes a controversial amendment to the electoral law, which stipulates that two-thirds of the parliament members must be elected through a representation system, which was proportional to the party list.
Accordingly, one-third of the assembly will be elected through a simple majority from independent candidates, who are not allowed to join any political parties during their term in parliament.

More than two dozen parties have rejected the amended law.

They say the so-called constitutional reform paves the way for the return of former regime figures to the country's political arena more than seven months after removal through a popular revolution of the three-decade-long authoritarian rule of Mubarak's government.