Parliamentary elections were held in Egypt in three-stage elections in November and December 2005 to elect 444 of the 454 members of the People's Assembly. The elections formed the Eighth Assembly since the adoption of the 1971 Constitution. Over 7,000 candidates competed in 222 constituencies for the Assembly's 444 elected seats. They were viewed as yet another test to the current wave of political reform, occurring only 2 months after the first multi-candidate presidential elections. Although the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) maintained its majority and control of the Assembly, large gains were made by others at the expense of the NDP. Further importance is attached to these elections as a party must achieve 5% of the seats in the Assembly to field a candidate in the next Egyptian presidential elections in 2011. Electoral system The election process ran in the three stages from November 7 to December 9, 2005 using single member plurality, with over 32 million registered voters in the 222 constituencies. Official registration for the candidates began on October 12, 2005. The role of the police is restricted to maintaining peace and order at the polling stations without interference in the voting process or entering the voting stations. The first stage was held on Wednesday November 9, with run-off elections on Tuesday November 15 with 10.7 million registered voters covering 8 Egyptian governorates: Cairo, Giza, al-Minufiyah, Bani Suwayf, Asyut, al-Minya, Matruh and al-Wadi al-Jadid The second stage was held on Sunday November 20, with run-off elections on Saturday November 26 with 10.5 million registered voters covering 9 Egyptian governorates: Alexandria, al-Buhayrah, al-Isma'iliyah, Bur Sa'id, as-Suways, al-Qalyubiyah, al-Gharbiyah, al-Fayyum and Qina. The third stage was held on December 1, with run-off elections on Wednesday December 7 with 10.6 million registered voters covering 9 Egyptian governorates: ad-Daqahliyah, ash-Sharqiyah, Kafr ash Shaykh, Dimyat, Suhaj, Aswan, al-Bahr al-Ahmar, South Sinai and North Sinai. Contesting parties The 2000 legislative election resulted in the following seat distribution in the Seventh Assembly: National Democratic Party (NDP) - 417 New Wafd Party - 6 Progressive National Unionist Party - 5 Arab Democratic Nasserist Party - 1 Liberal Party - 1 Independents - 14 Non-Elected Members - 10 Initially the NDP scored only 40% of the seats, but many independents switched their political affiliation back to NDP giving it its soaring majority. Campaign Officially, the campaign period starts immediately after the announcement of the final list