Cairo: The State Information Service (SIS) has been monitoring the international media coverage of the 2025 Senate elections. The SIS's media monitoring, conducted by its central operations room and covering media outlets across the globe, revealed a tangible interest from international media in the elections.
According to State Information Service Egypt, this coverage introduced the elections, its stages, and the guarantees put in place by the National Elections Authority to ensure their integrity. It also highlighted the Senate's role in Egyptian political and parliamentary life.
Journalist Diaa Rashwan, head of the SIS, stated that the elections received extensive coverage from major global media outlets, news agencies, news websites, and TV and radio stations. Geographically, media materials were monitored in the Americas, Europe, the Arab world, Asia, and Africa. The coverage was published in multiple languages, including Arabic, English, Italian, Spanish, French, Russian, German, Turkish, Farsi, Chinese, Hindi, Hebrew, Korean, and Japanese.
International media outlets used a variety of journalistic and media formats, from news segments in regular broadcasts to TV and newspaper reports. A large number of offices and representatives from major international media outlets in Egypt followed the elections. Accreditation and permits were granted to 86 Arab and foreign media entities, including 82 media organizations and 4 media service companies.
Rashwan explained that an analysis of the international media coverage of the Senate elections indicates that the predominant approach was objective, focusing on news related to the elections, the candidates, and the context in which they were held. Observations about the elections were limited to the existence of a single list, which, however, included a number of opposition parties. International media also focused on several points.
One of the key points was the high voter turnout of Egyptians abroad. The voting of Egyptian communities abroad saw the highest participation rate, with a high turnout from expatriates in Arab countries. Polling took place in 136 sub-committees at Egyptian diplomatic missions in 117 countries around the world, and no electoral violations were reported. This was the first election since the 2023 presidential elections to see such a high participation rate from Egyptians living abroad.
The sole list competing in the elections is the "National List for Egypt," a coalition of 13 parties led by the majority party in the House of Representatives, "Mostaqbal Watan." This list is expected to win the 100 seats allocated to the lists by acclamation, provided it secures at least 5% of the votes.
Additionally, there is competition for individual seats, with 428 candidates, including 186 independents and 242 from political parties, competing for 100 individual seats. There is a single list in the 4 districts designated for the list system.
The role of the Senate, formerly known as the Shura Council, was introduced as a semi-advisory body responsible for studying and proposing measures to enhance democracy and support social peace, in addition to providing opinions on constitutional amendments and draft laws referred to it. It then refers them to the House of Representatives for approval.