Elections countdown: 19 days

Campaigning violations

The High Elections Commission (HEC) stated on Tuesday that September 29 marks the beginning of parliamentary campaigning, which will continue until October 15.

A source in the HEC told the privately owned Youm7 that each candidate is entitled to tailor his or her campaign to address potential voters within guidelines set by the commission.

The commission stated that violations will be fined with amounts ranging between LE30,000 and LE100,000. Youm7 reported that 18 cases of violations have been filed in the last few days regarding candidates who began advertising before the official date.

The first day of campaigning witnessed other violations, including the use of places of worship, public properties, schools, universities and other educational institutions in their campaings.

The commission also issued 14 articles about campaign violations, according to privately owned Al-Watan, which include libel, slander, threatening national unity, violence, the use public property and facilities, as well as writing or placing posters on the walls of governmental or private buildings, and the use of microphones.

The commission also pointed out that funds for campaigning should be from the candidate's own money and, in case of donations, the amount should not exceed give percent of the total sum.

Finally, candidates who violate any of the commission's regulation, in addition to any legal or constitutional violations, will be removed from the electoral race.

Spiderman runs for Bulaq al-Dakrour

On the first day of campaigning, the residents of Cairo's Bulaq al-Dakrour stood by their favorite candidate, Spiderman.

Atef Saad, or the Egyptian Spiderman, came to fame last year when a series of photographs of him around Cairo went viral on social media. Atef shot the series with the help of his friend the photojournalist Hossam Atef.

In a statement to Al-Masry Al-Youm, Saad said that he chose a satirical approach to send a message to parliamentary candidates that the issues in Egypt need someone with the abilities of the superhero and not a normal human being to fix.

The 22-year-old says that the people of his district see in him, or in Spiderman, the solution to all their problems. "You may laugh and say he is bluffing. That's fine with me, I am bluffing, like all the other candidates with their imaginary campaigns," he stated.

Saad launched a Facebook page titled "Spiderman in the Parliament" to educate voters on how to evaluate their candidates.