Egyptian parliamentary election, 1883

A three-stage parliamentary election was held in Egypt in 1883, with only 13.3% of the population had the right to choose. The Khedivat Egypt was at that time formally under Turkish rule, but unofficially under strong British influence.

Electoral system

The electoral system of the country was created by Lord Dufferin, which is of " adopted the design of a pyramid." The first round of the election concluded the choice of a " choice delegates " ( for which there was no voter criteria) in about 4,300 village constituencies with a. A total of 797 571 citizens were eligible to vote in the first round. The delegates met in the provincial capitals to select a provincial council. The 14 Provincial Councils then chose one member to the Legislative Council.

Cairo was divided into twelve districts, each of them elected a delegate, with 65 016 people were eligible to vote. The twelve delegates then chose a single member of the Legislative Council. Alexandria was divided into four quarters, each in turn elected a delegate. Together with the individual delegates who were elected by Damietta, Port Said, Rosetta, Suez, Ismailia and El Arish, they chose a member of the Legislative Council.

Provincial Councils

The country had 14 provincial councils with between three and eight members. Only delegates were to be elected to the councils, with the additional criteria that candidates

• Had to be over 30 years old
• Of reading and writing were powerful
• At least £ 50 annual property tax paid

And

• Neither soldier nor were official.

Legislative Council

The Legislative Council consisted of 30 members, 14 of them were elected by provincial councils, 14 appointed by the Khedive on the advice of his ministers, one elected by the delegates to Cairo and elected by delegates of the other seven cities. He went six times a year together, starting in February, then in any other month.

General Advice

A General Council was also gathered. This had 84 members who were composed of eight ministers of the Khedive, the 30 members of the Legislative Council and other 46 elected by voters of the village constituencies, cities and towns members. The same election eligibility criterion as in the provincial councils was applied to members of the General Council, with the exception of the provisions relating to the estate tax, which was reduced to £ 20 in Cairo and Alexandria, and zero for the rest of the country.